Cartas en Paraguay Durante El Gobierno Del Dr. Francia Por J.P. y W.P. Robertson Volumen I

LETTERS ON PARAGUAY,
VOLUME
I.
7- s*
i/. ^/.
LETTERS ON PARAGUAY:
COMPRISING
AN ACCOUNT OF A FOUR YEARS' RESIDENCE IN

THAT REPUBLIC,
UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF
THE DICTATOR FRANCIA.
J. P.
AND W.
IN
P.
TWO
ROBERTSON.
VOLUMES.
VOL.
I.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1838.
LONDON:
Printed by
WILLIAM CLOWES and SONS,

Stamford Street.
TO HIS GRACE
DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH AND QUEENSBERRY,

8fc.
ffc.
K.G.,
ffc.
THESE VOLUMES ARE, WITH HIS PERMISSION,
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
BY HIS GRACE'S MOST OBEDIENT AND OBLIGED
HUMBLE SERVANTS,
THE AUTHORS.
PREFACE.
IT
is
known, we suppose, to
all readers,
preface of a book, although
written
It
it
comes
that the
first,
is
last.
happens, however, in the present case, that
the preface has not only been the part of our
book
of
it
last
written, but that the greater portion
has contrived to creep into the concluding
pages of the second volume.
We
must accordingly beg of our readers that

they will here be pleased to turn to the last
letter of this work,
addressed to themselves, as
some portion of that
letter
may be
properly
read as part of our preface.
We have
marked the
first
series as " Introductory."
five letters of
They
our
contain a rapid
PREFACE.
individuals
among them
much indebted
for
the
in particular,
we
are
encouragement which
they have given to this slight work.
We wish
our ability were commensurate with our desire

to
show that
their
patronage has not been mis-
placed.
London, August
6,
1838.
LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS.
KING of the BELGIANS. 3 copies.

Her Royal Highness the DUCHESS of KENT.
His Grace the DUKE of BUCCLEUCH and QUEENSBERRY, K. G.
His Majesty The
His Grace the
DUKE of NORTHUMBERLAND, K.G.

DUKE of PORTLAND, K.G.
His Grace the
The Most Noble
the
MARQUESS of NORTHAMPTON.
Right Honourable EARL of ARRAN. 3 copies.

Right Honourable VISCOUNT BERESFORD, G.C.B.
Right Honourable LORD COLCHESTER.
The BARON SENFTENBERG,
of Senftenberg.
Abernethy, Colonel Sir Thomas, K.H., Devonshire.
Anderson, John, Esq., Glasgow.

Arequipa and Arica, Subscribers in. 5 copies.
Armstrong, Rev. William, Leigh, Essex.
Arrowsmith,
J.,
Esq., Essex-street, Strand.
Ashley, Messrs., Liverpool.
Banner, Harmood, Esq., Liverpool.

Barker, George, Esq., ditto.
Bartholomew, Robert, Esq., Glasgow.
Xll
Barton, James, Esq., Buenos Ayres.
2 copies.
Bates, William, Esq., Liverpool.

Bates, Mrs.
Wm.,
Baxendale, Lloyd
ditto.
S.,
Esq., Weatherhall-house,
Hamp-
stead.
Beaufort, Captain, R.N., Gloucester-place, Portmansquare.

Bechtel, A., Esq., Manchester.
Beckwith, John, Esq., Liverpool.

Biddulph,
Bidwell,
J., Esq., New-street,
J.,
Spring-gardens,
Esq., Park-place, St. James's.
Black, J., Esq., Blyths wood-square, Glasgow.
Blanshard, H., Esq., Great Ormond-street, Bloomsbury.
Bold, Thomas, Esq., Liverpool.
Boothby, H., Esq.,
ditto.
Bowles, Captain W., R.N.,
Hill-street, Berkeley-square.
Bragg, John, Esq., Throgmorton-street.

Brittain, Mrs., Groom's- hill, Blackheath.
Brown, George, Esq., Regent-street.

Browne, Robert, Esq., Liverpool.
3 copies.
2 copies.
Buchanan, James, Esq., Edinburgh. 2 copies.

Buenos Ayres, Subscribers in. 13 copies.
Cairns, Nathan, Esq., Liverpool.
Campbell,
J. R., Esq., Russell-square.
Campbell, W., Esq., Candleriggs, Glasgow.

Carpenter, Charles, Esq., Walthamstow.
Cartwright,
William, Esq., Fairview, Liverpool.
copies.
Chile,
Subscribers
in.
10 copies.
Xlll
Clarke, Matthew, Esq., Walthamstow.
Clarke,
Thomas, Esq., Manchester.
Clephane, Miss Maclean, Castle Ashby.

Cochrane, William, Esq., Mexico.
Cockshott, James, Esq., Liverpool.
Cogan, Hugh, Esq., Glasgow.

Coleman,
Connall,
L., Esq.,
Wm.,
Cookson, Mr.
War
Office.
Esq., St. Vincent-street, Glasgow.
J.,
Liverpool.
Corrie, Edgar, Esq., Bedford-square.
Thomas, Esq., Liverpool.

Cotesworth, Robert, Esq., Walthamstow.
Corrie,
2 copies.
D'AImaine, Thomas, Esq., Brompton-crescent.

Darling, Robert, Esq., Kelso.
Darling, Peter, Esq., Sydenham, Roxburghshire.

Darling, Mrs., Kelso.
Darnley, James, Esq., Glasgow.
Dent, T., Esq., Hyde-park-terrace.
Des Brosses, Frederick,
Esq., Buenos Ayres.
2 copies.
Dezvete, Samuel, Esq., Gower-street.
Dickson, George
Frederick,
Esq.,
Hanover-terrace,
4 copies.
Regent's -park.
Dickson, F. C., Esq., Hanover-terrace.
Dillon, John, Esq., Manchester.
Divett,
Edward, Esq., M.P., Chapel-street, Grosvenor-
place.
Douglas, Edward, Esq., Brasted, Sevenoaks.

Douglas, the Rev. Stair, Ashling, Chichester.
Duguid, Thomas, Esq., Buenos Ayres. 2 copies.
Duguid, William, Esq., Burton-crescent.
XIV
OF SUBSCRIBERS.
LIST
Dunlop, A. C., Esq., Liverpool.

Dutton, Samuel, Jim., Esq., do.
Eales, Mrs. W., 1, Moore-place, Glasgow.
Edwards, Henry Lees, Esq., Pyenest, Halifax.

Edwards, C., Esq., Crewen-lodge, near Halifax.
Edwards, Richard, Esq., Liverpool.
Enderby, Charles, Esq., Great
St.
Helens.
4 copies
Thomas, Esq., Coldstream.
Fair,
Falcon,
Fitzroy,
M.
J.,
Esq., Liverpool.
Captain,
R.N.,
Chester-street,
Grosvenor-
place.
Flemming, Robert, Esq., Argyle-street, Glasgow.

Forrester, Robert, Esq., Argyle- street, ditto.
Frere,
Bartholomew, Esq.,
Saville-row,
Burlington-
gardens.
W., Jun., Esq., New Bank-buildings.

Fryer, Mrs., Great Winchester-street.
Freshfield, J.
Furse, John, Esq.,
Upper Woburn-place.
Garnett, John, Esq., Liverpool.
2 copies.
Gibbs, George Henry, Esq., Bedford-square.

2 copies.
Gilfillan, James, Esq., Liverpool.
Goad,
W. T
Esq., Tamworth-lodge,
Mitcham-common,
Surrey.
Gould, Miss, Gloucester-place.
Graham, Alexander, Esq., Glasgow.

Graham, \V., Esq., Gilmore-hill, ditto.
Grant, C. C. Hamilton,
Esq.,
71st Light Infantry,
Canada.
Grant, William, Esq., Manchester.
Grant, Daniel, Esq., Manchester.
XV
Gray,
J.,
Esq., Manchester.
Gray, Luke, Esq.,
ditto.
Greaves, William, Esq., Walthamstow.

Griffiths,
George, Esq., Gloucester-place.
Hall, George, Esq., Manchester.
Hamilton, Hamilton, Esq., Her Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister at Rio de Janeiro.
Hankey,
J. A., Esq.,
Lower
Brook-street.
Hardisty, Mrs., Liverpool.
Hardy, Admiral Sir Thomas, Bart., G. C. B., Greenwich Hospital.

Harratt, John, Esq.,
Buenos Ayres.
Harrold, Thomas, Esq., Horkesley-park, Suffolk.

Hartley, Bernard, Esq., Allangate, near Halifax.
copies.
Hartley, Mrs. Bernard, Halifax.

Hartley,
Thomas, Esq.,
ditto.
Hartley, S. F., Esq., Shaw-hill, Halifax.

Hassall, Rev. James, M.A., Liverpool.
Hegan, Joseph, Esq., Liverpool.
Heywood, Francis,
Esq., Liverpool.
Hichens, R., Esq., Threadneedle-street.

Hoker, Henry, Esq., Buenos Ayres. 2 copies.
Holt, George, Esq., Liverpool.
Hope, Henry
Philip, Esq., Arklow-house,
Connaught-
place.
Hornby, Joseph, Esq., Liverpool.
Home,
Hull,
Hull,
2 copies.
Archibald, Esq., Edinburgh.
Edward Henry, Esq., Liverpool.

James G., Esq., Liverpool.
,
XVI
Hunter, Alexander, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh.
2 copies.
Hunter, James, Esq., of Hafton, Hafton-house,
Dunoon.
Rev. F., M.A., Liverpool.

Inglis, Sir Robert Harry, Bart., M.P., Manchesterbuildings, Westminster,
Iliff,
Inglis,
Miss M. L.,
ditto.
Jack, John, Esq., Liverpool.
Jackson, William, Esq., Liverpool.
Jamieson, Andrew, Esq., Russell-square.

Jamison, William, Esq., Mexico.
Jones, Edward, Esq., Liverpool.
Jones, Miss, Northwick-terrace.
Johnson, R. E., Esq., Hamilton-terrace,

wood.
St.
John's-
Johnston, George C. M., Esq., London-street, Fitzroysquare.
Johnston, Mrs. General Souter,

Kelly,
FitzRoy, Esq.,
ditto.
M.P., New-street,
Spring-
gardens.
Kendall, George, Esq., Liverpool.

King, James, Esq., Rochdale.
King, John, Esq., Monteith-row, Glasgow.
Knowles, John, Jun., Esq., Liverpool.

Laird, Mrs., Berryburn Cottage,
Dunoon.
Lang, James, Esq., Hampstead.

Latham, Alfred, Esq., Montague-place, Montaguesquare.
Latham, Charles, Esq., Havre de Grce.

Lawrence, Henry, Esq., Liverpool.
Le
Breton, Francis, Esq., Jersey.
3 copies.
LIST
XVH
OF SUBSCRIBERS.
Leisler, John, Esq., Manchester.

Lima, Subscribers in. 8 copies.
Lister, Miss,
Shibden Hall, Yorkshire.
2 copies.
Littledale, Harrold, Esq., Liverpool.
Lloyd, George, Esq., Cowesby Hall, near Thirsk.
Loch, George, Esq., Liverpool.

Lockett, John, Esq. Liverpool.
Longman, Messrs., and
Co., Paternoster-row.
Loyd, Lewis, Esq., Grosvenor-square.
Loyd, Samuel Jones, Esq., Norfolk-street, Park-lane.

Maclean, Lieut-General Sir Hector, K.C.B., Northwick-terrace.
2 copies.
Maclean, Major-Gen. Sir John, K.C.B., Argyle-street,

Regent-street.
Maclean, Hugh, Esq., of Coll, Coil-house.

Maclean, Miss, of Coll. 2 copies.
copies.
Maclean, Miss Catherine, of Coll.

Maclean, Miss Elizabeth, of
Coll.
Maclean, Miss Isabella, of Coll.
Maclean, Alexander, Esq., of Pennycross.

Maclean, Archibald, Esq., Paymaster's Office.
Maclean, Charles Hope, Esq., Wilton crescent.
Maclean, John, Esq., Old Broad-street.

Maclean, John, Esq., Liverpool. 2 copies.
Macleod, Lieutenant-General Sir John, K.C.B., Devonshire-street.
Macleod, Sir Donald, Montague-square.
Macleod, Lady
ditto.
Macleod, Mrs., Raza.
ditto.
Macleod, Colonel C., Devonshire-street.
XV111
M'Clymont, Mr. John, Buenos Ayres.
2 copies.
M'Cracken, William, Esq., Liverpool.

M'Gill,
Thomas, Esq., Liverpool.
M'Haffie, William, Esq., Glasgow.
Mackay, Mr., Old Burlington-street.

Mackinlay, Mrs., Buenos Ayres.
Mackirilay, Alexander, Esq.,
Buenos Ayres.
2 copies.
Mackinlay, Thomas, Esq., Soho-square.

Mackinlay, Edmund, Esq., Buenos Ayres.
M'Murdo,
2 copies.
Charles, Esq., Liverpool.
Madden, Dennis, Esq., Liverpool.

Meggie,
2 copies.
Esq., Chelmsford, Essex.
Merritt, John, Esq., Liverpool.
4 copies.
Miller, General W., Field-Marshal of Peru-Bolivia.
Mexico, Subscribers
in,
2 copies.
Montevideo, Subscribers
in.
4 copies.
Moon, Edward, Esq., Liverpool.

Moon, James, Esq. Liverpool.
Morice, Mrs., Ham-park, Surrey.
Morice, David
S.,
Esq.,
Ham-park, Surrey.
Morris, William, Esq., Halifax.
Morrison, Mrs., Garnett-hill, Glasgow.

Murray, George M., Esq., Mexico.
Naylor, William Todd, Esq., Liverpool.

Neeld, Joseph, Esq., M.P., Grosvenor-square.
Newton, Thomas, Esq., Liverpool. 2 copies.
Nicholson, John, Esq., Liverpool.
Nicol, William, Esq., Liverpool.
Nisbett, John, Esq.,
Walthamstow.
2 copies.
XIX
Noble, John, Esq., Gloucester-place, Portman-square.

Norcliffe, Miss, Petergate, York.
Norcliffe,
Miss Charlotte,
do.
North, William, Esq., Chelsea College.

Ogden, Mrs., of Harrietfield, near Kelso.
Parish, Sir Woodbine, K.C.H., Gloucester-place, Port-
man-square.
5 copies,
Parish, Richard, Esq.,
Parish, Charles, Esq.,
Planta,
Hamburg.
Hamburg.
Right Honourable Joseph, M.P., Fairlight,
Hastings.
Prescott, His
Excellency
Capt.,
R.N., Governor of
Newfoundland.
Palmer, J. Horsley, Esq., King's Arms-yard.
Patch, John, Esq., Temple.
Pearce, William, Esq., Liverpool.
Pennington, John, Esq., Liverpool.

Perkins, A. M., Esq., Great Coram-street.
Porter, H., Esq., Montevideo.
Postlethwaite, Mrs., Whitehaven.
Postlethwaite, Miss, Liverpool.
Powell, David, Esq., Heath -lodge, Hampstead.
Powles, J. D., Esq.,

Pritt,
London Dock
4 copies.
Office.
George, Esq., Parliament-street.
Pryor, Marlborough, Esq., Hampstead.
Rawson,
E., Esq., Halifax.
Rees, Mr., Marylebone.
Reid, Sir J. Rae, Bart., M.P., Pali-Mall.

Reid, George, Esq., Clarence-terrace.
Ridgway, John, Esq., Liverpool.
2 copies.
XX
Ridgway, Joseph, Esq., Liverpool.

Rigg, John, Esq., Brompton-row.
Robertson, Miss, Coll House.
Robins, George, Esq., Park-crescent, Portland-place.
Edmund, Esq., Covent Garden.
Robins,
Robinson,
W.
R., Esq.
Roskell, Nicholas, Esq., Liverpool.
Rotheram, William, Esq., Liverpool.
Rowe, Mr., Kensington.

Scarlett, Honourable P. Campbell, New-street, Springgardens.
Spencer, Captain the
Hon. Frederick, R.N., Spencer-
house.
Stewart, John, Esq., M.P., F, Albany.
Samuels, John, Esq., Manchester.

St. Croix, Philip,
Esq., Jersey.
Scott, J., Esq., Finnart
Scrimgeour, John
2 copies.
House.
S., Esq., Michael's-grove,
Shaw, James G., Esq., Liverpool.

Sheridan, Peter, Esq., Buenos Ayres.
Simon, L. M., Esq., Warnford-court.
Skinner, Mrs.
Brompton.
2 copies.
copies.
Small, Robert, Esq., York-terrace, Regent's-park.

Smallbone, William, Esq., Balham-hill, Surrey. 2 copies.
Smith, Mr. George, Liverpool.

Smith, Jones, Esq., Liverpool.
Smith, William, Esq., West Regent-street, Glasgow.
Society, the Royal Geographical, of London.
Starkey,
John Jackson, Esq., Liverpool.
XXI
Stewart, J., Esq.
Stewart
Story, Mr.,
Esq., Glasgow.
New
Bond-street.
Symington, John, Esq., Moore-place, Glasgow.

Tapley, W., Esq., Liverpool.
Tato, Colonel, Mexican Consul, Liverpool.
Tayleur, Charles, Esq., Park field, Liverpool.
Tayleur, Wm., Esq., Liverpool.

Taynton, Mrs. Captain, Everett-street, Russell -square.
Thomson, J. R., Esq., Manchester.
Tyrer, James, Esq., Liverpool.
Upton, Arthur T., Esq., Guildford -street.

Verney, Sir Harry, Bart., M.P., Pall-Mall.
Vanzeller, F. J., Esq., Portuguese Consul,
New Broad-
street.
Vanzeller,
Esq., Liverpool.
Venables, Mr. R., Liverpool.
,
Walker, Miss, Shibden Hall.
Washington, Captain, Regent-street.

Waterhouse, John, Esq., Wellhead, Halifax.
Watson, James G., Esq., Glasgow.
2 copies.
Watson, William, Esq., Liverpool.

Wheelwright, William, Esq., Regent Street.
Willink, Daniel, Esq., Liverpool.
Wilson, G. R., Esq., Benmore.
2 copies.
Wilson, Herbert, Esq., Chelsea College.
Wilson, W., Esq., Ingram-street, Glasgow.

Wilson, Dr. W., Buenos Ayres.
Wilson, Mrs. Piccadilly.
XXII
LIST
OF SUBSCRIBERS.
Young, C. Baring, Esq., Liverpool.
Young, George, Esq., Gordon-street, Glasgow. 2

Yeatman, Morgan, Esq., Dorchester.
Zimmermann, J. C., Esq., Buenos Ayres.
copies.
CONTENTS
OF
THE FIRST VOLUME.
LETTER
I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Page
General Remarks
licy
of Spain
Revolt of Spanish America
Accounts from South America
Lord
Origin of Enthusiasm about the
Viscount Beresford
Country
Colonial Po-
Reaction
LETTER
II.
INTRODUCTORY.
Was
the Declaration of Independence premature
of the
Query
Colonies
State of Old Spain
Sol ution
Government of the
Military Force of Spain in South America
LETTER
15
III.
INTRODUCTORY.
evolution in Buenos Ayres
Death of General Liniers
him
Peru
Revolution
tion
Miller
In the Interior Provinces
His Character
Anecdote of
Paraguay Revolution in Upper

General Elio and Montevideo Final Emancipain
Civil Discord
Character of Warfare
General
25
XXIV
CONTENTS.
LETTER
IV.
INTRODUCTORY.
Page
Spanish Population of South America South American

Nobility South American Education the Clergy the
the Landed Proprietors of Chile and Peru
Lawyers
Estancias, or Cattle
Farms
Estancieros, or
Proprietors of Buenos Ayres
Yeomen
Landed
Chacareros, Farmers or
General Remarks
LETTER
.41
V.
CONCLUSION OF INTRODUCTORY SERIES.

First
Attempts of the South Americans at Legislation

South American Constitutions
Classes of Legislators
Debate in Lima
Legislation
the Congress of Lima the Congress of Buenos Ayres
General Form of Debate the Governor's Palace
Nature of Civil Broils
His Excellency the Governor Government Offices

and Executive Powers Naval and Military
Legislative
Force
Impossibility of conquering South America
Difficulties
with which the South Americans have
to contend
the English in South America
reigners have to expect there
LETTER
Retrospective Glance
America
Plan of the
Fo-
.63
VI.
Capture of Buenos Ayres

Consequences of the Capture
for the River Plate
Arrival there
Capture of the
Expectations excited
Town
BomSymp-
......
toms of Confidence in the People
muel Auchmuty
Work
bardment of Montevideo
Society of Montevideo
still
Comparison between North and South
Anticipated Results
Embarkation
What
Motley Inhabitants
LETTER
VII.
The Rats
The two
Spies
89
Sir Sa-
104
XXV
CONTENTS.
LETTER
VIII.
Page
News
English Militia
of General Whitelock's Expedition
He
Whitelock's arrival
auspicious
Whitelock's Defeat
Army
Ayres
Buenos Ayres InPanic of the Buenos
sails for
March from Ensenada
LETTER
.113
IX.
The
Causes of the defeat at Buenos Ayres
Capitulation
Departure of the EngTransition from Land to Sea
General Whitelock's callousness

lish
from the Country
124
Reflections
LETTER
Entrance to Rio de Janeiro
the
Custom-House
Politeness
Negro
Town
the
Streets, &c.,
of Rio de Janeiro
of Rio de Janeiro
Alfayetes, or Tailors
Jewellers
LETTER
Portuguese Society
Anecdote of King John
LETTER
Classes or Castes of South
King John's
.
.148
XII.
The Abori-
American population
Blending and grades of Caste
gines
The Negro
The Portuguese Fidalgo
155
LETTER
Scene on the
Campo
de Sant'
135
XI.
Portuguese
Equipage
Difference between Spaniards
Inhabitants of Rio de Janeiro
and
X.
Ana
XIII.
.
164
LETTER XIV.
Land and Sea Breezes
Thunder-storm at Rio de Janeiro

the
Pampero
Dancing
VOL.
1.
Society of
.
Buenos Ayres
.
Music and
.
.170
XXVI
CONTENTS.
LETTER XV.
Page
Expedition to
Equipment
Paraguay
Pampas
Departure
for
Santa Fe and
its
the.
.181
XVI.
Carne Con Cuero
Journey to Santa Fe
187
LETTER XVII.
A Letter of Introduction in
My Reception at Santa Fe Bathing
Inhabitants
South America
there
Journey over
Assumption
LETTER
Dinner at Luxan
for a
Fatigue of Travelling
.197
*".'.'
LETTER XVI II.
....
Candioti, the Entrerios Estanciero
208
LETTER XIX.
Passage from Santa Fe to the Baxada the Baxada de
Santa Fe Journey from Santa Fe to Corrientes
Malthusian Economy One of Candioti's Estancias
the Ostrich
the large Partridge
TamNumber
Wild Horses
....
Branding of Cattle
ing of Potros, or Colts
of these on Candioti's Estancia
224
LETTER XX.
Route from Santa Fe
to Corrientes
Paran& and Plate

rientes
Hammocks
Females of Corrientes
LETTER
Entrance into Paraguay
guayan Hospitality
Serjeant
their
Arrival there
of Leonardo Vera
Pyramids
247
Para-
The Scotch
.
.258
XXII.
Approach
Doctor Bargas
XXI.
Don Andres Gomez
The Cottage
Cor-
Character of the Country
LETTER
The Ants and
the Rivers Paraguay,
Solitude of so fine a Country
to
Assumption
.
.270
CONTENTS.
LETTER
XXV11
XXIII.
Page
The Junta
of
Bargas
Reception More of Doctor

.
280
The City of Assumption the Inhabitants
My
Paraguay
LETTER XXIV.
The Market-place
the Ship
Precautions taken
cautions
Compadre La Cerda
Dona Juana Ysquibel

for
Pai Mbatu
of Assumption
Arrival of
Relaxation of these Pre-
Dona Juana Ysquibel
LETTER XXV.
A Serio-Comic Affair
293
Preparations
a Fe-te-Champetre
308
LETTER XXVI.
FETE AT YTAPUA.
Celebration of the day of St. John the Evangelist
and Image
Friars
Arrival of the
of the
gorio de la
Members
Company
His Shrine
and
of Government
Cerda and his Comadres
the Quartel, or Barracks
of the
first
of
Don
Gre-
of the Officers of
of Miscellaneous Groups
and
of General Velasco, the late Spanish Governor Commencement of the Mirth Paraguay Peasantry and the
Guitar
The
Festivities
Scenery of Ytapua
Cottage
His Manners and Attainments
Intrigues
.317
Breaking up of the Party
LETTER XXVII.
My first Interview with
.
Francia
His
.
His
Political
.
330
LETTER XXVIII.
VOYAGE, AOUAS ABAXO, OR
Patronage of Don Gregorio

the Voyage
DOWN THE STREAM.
Effects of
it
Preparations for
sumption
Payagua Indians The Sailing from AsMode of Navigating Getting aground
The Crew
The Marines
Enthusiasm of the
Men
cape, and arrive at Santa
Preparations to meet them

Precautions taken
Fe
We
.
es.
339
ERRATA IN VOL.
Page
I.
190, for four, read eight.
232, after describing, read with their whips.

239, for flung, read flang.
For the sentence commencing page 243, " even his hide, &c."
and ending page 244, " to the ordeal of branding," read as fol-
lows:
" Even his
hide,
if stripped
from him by a thief or marauder,
was, unless the original brand was overlaid by a counter-brand

of the
seller, liable to
be taken,
vi et armis,
by F. C.
When
cattle
or horses are sold, therefore, in order to render the sale legal, or
the possession secure, the
'
contra-marca,' or counter-mark of the
vendor must be affixed over the original one. After this, the
purchaser's mark is branded on the beast ; so that every animal
sold in
South America
of branding.
is
subjected at feast thrice to the ordeal

some of the finest
I have seen the hind-quarters of
horses in the country rendered absolutely deformed
by the
and oft-repeated process."
Page 263, for circumventions read circumlocution.

267,
sunk,
sank.
274,
anima,
anima.
291,
propriete,
proprete.
311,
flung,
flang.
317 (heading), for Baptist, read Evangelist.

334,
outside of the cottage, read the cottage.
334, after neat, read outside.
cruel
LETTERS ON PARAGUAY.
LETTER
To J
I.
ESQ.
INTRODUCTORY.
of Spain
Revolt of Spanish America

Accounts from South America
Beresford
Origin of Enthusiasm about the Country
General Remarks
Colonial Policy
Lord Viscount
Re-
ction.
London, 1838.
THE numerous works on South America
which,
within the last few years, have issued from the

press
the various histories, journals, travels,
residencies, already
and
before the public, have so
attenuated the whole subject, that in writing
anything more on
it,
we
we can
are certainly
bound
to
anything new, on
topics now so familiar to almost every class of
consider whether
offer
readers.
We have
endeavoured to consider this point

and when we reflect that the letters which follow,
though now edited anew, were substantially
VOL.
i.
GENERAL REMARKS.
written at the periods to which they refer, and
which they
record; if we can add, that they form only a
part of the many documents collected, and of
from actual observation of the
letters
during a residence
written,
twenty-five years in
Chile,
and Peru
facts
and
of nearly
Buenos Ayres, Paraguay,

if
we
consider finally, that
an intercourse with those countries has been kept
up by us
since
be strange
if
we
left
them ; we think
it will
not
our communications contain some-
thing relative to South America, that has escaped

the notice of hurried journalists, casual visitants,
and galloping
When we
travellers.
recollect, also, that
some of our early
years were spent in Paraguay, a sort of terra

incognita
that
we there had long and
familiar
intercourse with one of the most singular charac-
and systematic despots of his day and generation that we have explored the far distant
ters,
abodes of the Jesuits, and far-famed ruins of
and industry we think

we may offer something new, even on the wellknown subject of South America.
their polity, institutions,
Although we
shall naturally
be led into
of the habits and manners of the South
details
Ame-
REVOLT OF SPANISH AMERICA.

ricans,
we
shall
not confine ourselves to these
topics, so generally treated of
by other
travellers.
In tracing, from its initiation, the revolution

of South America, we would seize the more
striking events of its history
and exhibit
to you,
men of their
whom we have
in connexion with these, the leading
day, with almost every one of
much
and carried forward many

important transactions. For the present, after a
short notice of some preliminary matter, neces-
held
intercourse,
sary for the unravelling of the clue of our whole

story,
to
we intend
to confine ourselves pretty
much
Paraguay and Doctor Francia.
The history
of the Revolution of Spanish
Ame-
rica is unfortunately the history rather of civil

discord,
and party
intrigue,
of the military ag-
gression of one petty chief against another,
than of any protracted struggle for independence

against the common enemy. There has as yet
been
little
exhibition of any patient, respectable,
or tolerably successful effort to supersede, by a

better order of things, either the laws or the practice which,
of the
soon after the conquest of her part
New
World, the mother country
duced.
B 2
intro-
Some
of the colonies burst the bonds of Spanish
oppression
much
for instance, has
tend with since
sooner than others.
Paraguay,
had no Spanish enemy to con1811, nor Buenos Ayres since
Chile continued to be more or less ha-
1814.
rassed by expeditions from
Lima
till
1819
and
have been wholly emanci

pated from the thraldom of Spain till the surrender, by General Rodil, of the fortress of Callao
Peru cannot be said
to
in 1826.
In Colombia, the struggle for independence

was more protracted in Mexico, with the excep;
tion of Mina's transient efforts,
it
was
than in any of the other viceroyalties
may be
later
begun
but of
all it
safely affirmed, that their domestic
and
family quarrels and disturbances, which continue

up to this hour, have been much more ruinous to
them than
cither invasions from without, or con-
spiracies of the old Spaniards from within.
That
one,
this is the fact
who has even
must be obvious
to every
so far interested himself in the
progress of the Revolution, as to read the details

of
it
furnished, from time to time,
by the English
newspapers.
To
those
who have witnessed
that progress,

not only has the fact been evident, but
supplied
Had
its
own
it
has
solution.
the Spanish power been greater in those
countries than
it
was, there would necessarily
have been greater concentration of effort

throw it. There would have been thus
to overless op-
portunity for the native chiefs to plan, and carry
forward schemes
of
personal
aggrandizement.
They must have been engaged in the more arduous and pressing struggle which the expulsion
of the
common enemy would have demanded,
before they could have begun to fight for civil
and military pre-eminence among themselves. In

the mean time, the urgent danger, and the unity
of effort required to avert
dered more of public
it,
spirit
would have engen-
among
the natives
so that when the Spaniards

length
have been driven from all their strong holds, it
would have been by a common effort to which
should at
every citizen, as well as soldier, would have
felt
he had contributed something. He would have

been less willing, therefore, passively to surrender
into the
chief in
hands of any military despot^ or petty

command of five hundred recruits, that
liberty, for the
attainment of which he had him*
self fought, or in
some other way
directly suf-
fered.
Instead of this, however,

that the Spanish troops
the
chiefs
When
of
known
it
frequently
came over
happened
in bodies to
revolutionary
principles.
this was not the case, those chiefs orga-
nized a few corps of foot soldiers, and with

these, and a squadron of cavalry, in a first or
second encounter, discomfited their adversaries

the Spaniards.
a thousand
Battles, in which not
more than
men have been engaged, have
cided the fate of entire provinces.
Some
de-
of the
campaigns undertaken, and of the most famous

victories achieved, if stripped of the high sounding phraseology, and pompous terms so abun-
dant in Spanish
diction, with
which the report
of such victories has been adorned, would

to confirm this fact; that the military
all
go
power of
Spain in South America, at the commencement,

and during the whole progress of the Revolution, has been not a little exaggerated.
The
efforts
made by the Americans
to accomplish
wherever they were put forward with energy, were invariably successful ;
and we are to attribute in a great measure to
their independence,
REVOLT OP SPANISH AMERICA.
the facility with which the numerous but often

isolated bodies of Spanish troops throughout the
country were
first
spirit of mili-
overcome, that
tary encroachment in the South American chiefs,
who, at so easy a cost as that of a skirmish or

a battle, paved their way to power over their
inexperienced
and divided countrymen.

power has been often
exercise of this
jurious
The
as in-
and oppressive as that of any dominion
ever asserted, or exercised, by Spain herself.

But though this is one cause of the slow progress
made by
the South Americans towards any-
thing like stability in their political institutions,
and of the comparatively little benefit hitherto

derived by them from their [Revolution, yet it
must be confessed that there

which
is
another cause,
deeper, and operates much more perthan the one already assigned; and
lies
niciously
to this
second cause we are unwillingly con-
strained to trace, not only
many
carriages in political matters, but,
more
to
of their mis-
what
is
still
be lamented, many of their aberrations

This cause is to be found,
in those of
principle.
not only in the gross ignorance in which
it
was
ever the policy of Spain to educate her colonial
COLOMAL POLICY OF
subjects, but in the idle

\vhich, if
and
SPAIN.
vicious courses in
they were not openly encouraged, the
better classes of Creole youth were certainly
never greatly checked by their European parents.
With
those
policy of
who
consider, indeed,
Old Spain with her
what was the
how
colonies,
great
her jealousy
lest
they should outgrow her means
of control,
how
vigilant the system of political
espionage with which she watched them,

sordid, low,
how
and limited was the education she
and how pernicious were at

once the example and control of a great propor-
permitted them,
tion of the friars with which every part of her

territory
the wonder
teemed;
present inhabitants should
still
is
not that the
exhibit so
many
them by
Spain, but that Europeans should have calculated so credulously on their possessing those
traits of the vicious
system entailed on
public principles and virtues which were wholly in-
compatible with their course of colonial training.
This wonder
reflect
be
will
less,
however,
if
we
shortly
on the manner in which information, in
regard to the state of South America, was trans-
mitted to Europe
on the intercourse,
as well as mercantile, which
grew out of
political
this in-
ACCOUNTS FROM SOUTH AMERICA.

formation
and on the new
state of things hence
arising in the ci-devant colonies.

First, Sir
Home Popham transmitted to England
the most animated picture that could well be drawn
of the wealth and
of the country in which
fertility
the gallant General (now Viscount) Beresford,
under
circumstances
calculated
to excite at once astonishment
had obtained a
The
footing.
of themselves
and admiration,
capture of Buenos
Ayres seemed an event which ought more properly to be ranked with the daring exploits of the
age of chivalry, than with the military undertakings of these days. With a handful of fifteen hundred men, he landed in a totally un-
known
country, and proceeded to assault a town
many square
covering
seventy
thousand
miles,
civilized
and containing
inhabitants.
The
Viceroy, Sobremonte, presided over the troops;
and the
European generals commanded them
hatred of both Spaniards and Creoles towards
;
the English was heightened by religious rancour.
Yet, under these circumstances, General Beresford took

but,
Buenos Ayres.
more wonderful
still,
He
not only took
it,
he constrained his
enemies to lay aside their dislike and distrust of
s3
10
LORD VISCOUNT BERESFORD.
him and
of his nation,
their friendship
and
and esteem.
to give
The
him
in lieu
rare combina-
tion which General Beresford exhibited of discipline, watchfulness,
and circumspection, with the
popular manners and frank deportment of the
sol-
and the gentleman, spell-bound the Buenos

Ayriaiis, and enabled him to keep his conquest
dier
for
Neither did he surrender
months.
it
till,
overpowered by irresistibly superior numbers, his

honourable capitulation only added fresh laurels
to those
he had already reaped from the striking
achievement of his previous victory.

Had a Beresford, instead of a Whitelock, com-
manded our
forces
at a
subsequent period, in
what a curiously different channel would not the
historical events of the
What room
for
River Plate have run?
speculative induction does not
the thought open up to the philosopher and the
statesman
From 1809
till
1822-3,
South America was
open, in most parts, to our commerce
and the
information received during that period, being
from mercantile men, many of whom had

been successful, was highly coloured. It not only
chiefly
left,
but encouraged parties here to generalize
ENTHUSIASM ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA.

this partial success to
Hence
11
any extent they pleased.
arose an inference of a certain universality
of wealth ; and a prospect dawned upon the minds

of
men
of an almost unlimited sphere for the
commercial enterprise of Great Britain.
But
it is
to
Mr. Canning's foreign
policy, as
connected directly with Spain and Portugal, and

"
through them, with Spain and the Indies," that
the great bewilderment of this country (for
it
can be called nothing short of that), in regard

to South America, is to be attributed.
That ardent statesman, already determined

on the vast project of calling (to use his own
words in Parliament) "A NEW WORLD INTO EXISTENCE," sent out diplomatic agents to
to report
new
world.
With
the highest deference and respect for
those gentlemen, be
tinctured (and
wise
all parts,
on the general circumstances of that
?)
it
yet permitted to state, that
how should
it
have been other-
with the Foreign Secretary's enthusiasm
on so alluring a subject, they went forth disposed

It was required also that
to report favourably.
they should report quickly.
The growing im-
portance of events in the south of Europe de-
ENTHUSIASM ABOUT
12
this.
The result was, that the diplomaon
arrival
at the various ports of South
tists,
America, naturally threw themselves on the best-
manded
informed merchants for information.

that
it
was the
But, beside
merchants to
interest of those
magnify the commercial importance of the country, the very fact of Mr. Canning's sending out
consuls-general to make treaties of alliance with
the
new Kepublics, fanned
in this
country the
men already sufficiently

The consequence was, that the reports,
ardent expectations of
sanguine.
although more or less tinged with the glow, as
who had originated

these measures, as of his diplomatic agents, and
of the merchants by whose assistance the docuwell of the great minister,
ments were framed, were extremely well received

at home.
The full recognition by
of
many
of the Republics followed
ning, coming
met the
down
England
and Mr. Can-
to Parliament,
triumphantly
fears of those
who dreaded a
continental
war, in consequence of the embroiled state of
France and Spain, by an eloquent

speech, in
which, if we recollect well, there was a
passage
to the effect that it was
long since Spain had
ceased to be formidable in
herself: that
it
was
SOUTH AMERICA.
13
Spain with the Indies that had been the formidable power; that the Indies were
her; and
now
lost to
that, by the recognition of Republics
which had de facto achieved their independence,
we had counteracted
all
preponderating influence
on the part of the absolute governments of

Europe
we had called into existence a new world.' "
'
This was in the year 1823-4. The lamentable,

not to say ruinous results of the confidence thus
established,
and of the hopes thus
too fresh in the
memory
excited, are
of the thousands
who
have suffered by their connexion with Spanish

America. Loans were furnished to every one of
the
independent
shipped
to enable
governments; millions were

them to work their mines ;
emigration sent forth her labourers to people

the wastes of the new world ; manufactures were
shipped far beyond the amount required for the

consumption of the country; and we were ere
long taught, by a sad experience, that the whole
fabric
of these
vast undertakings was reared
on a foundation inadequate to support so great

a superstructure. In 1825 it began to totter;
and in 1826-7
laid
many
it
came down with a crash which
prostrate under
its ruins,
and more or
THE REACTION.
14
less injured every individual
connected with the
country.
though the consequence most to

be lamented, by any means the only consequence
Nor was
this,
of our overweening confidence in the infant go-
vernments.
Nurtured by these very
acts into a feeling of
natuimportance beyond that to which they were

entitled, they have been led too often into a
rally
belief that latent views of
commercial or more
sordid aggrandizement lay hidden under the outward show of a liberal and confiding policy and
;
they have thus not only held as less sacred than

they ought to have done the obligations they
but they have adopted, in
many
narrow and fluctuating course of
legis-
have contracted
cases, a
lation, too
much
akin to that of Old Spain.
Their injudicious and ill-timed laws have often
hampered commerce, and retarded the progress

of the public welfare of
every section of Spanish
America.
Yours,
faithfully,
THE AUTHORS.
J5
LETTER
To J
II.
ESQ.
INTRODUCTORY.
Was the Declaration
Quary
of Independence premature
State of Old Spain
Sol ution of the
Government of the Colonies
Military Force of Spain in South America.
London, 1838.
IT
may
be asked, and, after what we have said in
our last
letter, it
naturally will be asked, were
the declarations of independence, then,
the late Spanish provinces, premature
In reply to this question,
it
may be
made by
stated, that
"
premature" be meant premature in respect

moral and political capacity to govern
of
their vast country on sound principles of political
if
by
their
economy their declarations of independence cer',
tainly
appear to involve this charge
matter of notoriety, that they
are, after
for it is
more than
twenty-five years of revolution, very little advanced

in the science of government,
and nearly
removed now as they ever were from

stability.
as far
political
WAS THE DECLARATION PREMATURE?
16
But
if
by
"
"
premature
be meant only pre-
mature in respect of their physical capacity
to
maintain the independence which they at first

achieved, then it
certain that their revolution
is
was not premature for they have preserved free

from all external control, the country they wrested
;
from the hands of Old Spain,

reluctantly forced
till
the latter
is
now
upon a consideration of the ex-
pediency of recognising the independence of her

late colonies,
and no longer dreams of ever re-
possessing herself of them.
Can
be alleged that upon the whole, then,

they have been losers, rather than gainers by
it
their Revolution
We
think quite the reverse.
For one ship that entered

under the colonial
into
them from
all
their deserted ports,
restrictions,
twenty now
quarters of the globe.
sail
For
one newspaper then published, there are now in

circulation four or five.
Books of every kind are
imported.
Foreigners freely take up their abode
in the country.
Better houses, better furniture,
are seen everywhere.
The
natives,
guided by the
example of foreigners, live not only better than

before, but have acquired habits of greatly-in-
creased domestic comfort and convenience.
In
SOLUTION OF THE QUERY.
17
two or three of the republics, the Protestant

religion is tolerated. The undue influence of the
priests, if not entirely
undermined,
places greatly diminished,
overthrown.
The
and
in
is
in
many
some nearly
authority of the pope
is
not
only practically disavowed, but a legate, sent

some time ago from Eome to Chile, met with a
very cold reception,, and with an order for his

almost instantaneous return to that Italy from
whence he came.
In these, and in many other
respects, the Americans have gained by their

Revolution. They have gained, too, as a con-
sequence of it, in their trade, and pecuniary transfor, to
say nothing of the
sums received by them
in loans, for work-
actions with
large
England:
ing of mines, &c., for which little or nothing has

been as yet returned; we very much question
whether the merchandise sent to South America
has,
from
is
on the whole, produced to the shippers of

this country, an adequate profit; while
it
it
incontestable that a greatly-increased export
trade, at
much enhanced
in all parts of Spanish
prices, has
America the
augmented
and
capital
means of its inhabitants.
What
may, however, be truly said of the South
SOLUTION OF THE QUERY.
18
Americans
is,,
that they have not only failed to
derive the benefit to have been expected from

their Revolution,
under rectitude and prudence
of conduct, but that they have obstructed such
by protracted civil commotions on the one

hand, and by a want of capacity, and sometimes,
benefit
unfortunately, of integrity, in the public administration of their affairs,
Hence a check
on the other.
to the influx of foreign popula-
and to the increase of their own; hence agriculture has languished, and commerce been shacktion,
led
by improvident laws
and hence smuggling,

while it has worked out
that fertile source of
evil,
all its
effects,
demoralizing
has at the same time
greatly diminished the revenue.

cation has been neglected,
Hence
and the
also edu-
vices spring-
ing from ignorance left unchecked hence factions

have been multiplied, and Justice herself has not
;
always been able to resist the influence of political
excitement, and the temptations to indi-
vidual venality.
policy,
Hence,
in short, a
narrow foreign
and an unhappy domestic one, have too
much pervaded
the different states of the ex-
colonial possessions of
Spain.
In the midst of
all this,
the theory of repub-
STATE OF OLD SPAIN.

lican independence, of civil
19
and judicial
rectitude,
has been always upheld ; and a legislative perfection, unattained by the oldest states, has been
constantly aimed at
Yet, while the
title
by these
infant communities.
of viceroy has been changed
for that of president; while royal audiencias (or
courts) have been superseded
cabildos have given
and a
way
to justices of the peace
we could wish
to
they
that the nature of the offices

as the
name
had
for it
;
effectually changed
be feared that in many of their features
still
too
much resemble
the old Spanish regime.

to
council of state to a provincial assembly;
been as
is
by senates; while
know and
the offices under
It is pleasing, however,
to record, that
an amelioration, to a
greater or less extent, has taken place in the

political institutions of all the
new
republics
nor, considering the disadvantages
under which
they have laboured, could
be expected
it fairly
that such amelioration should have been either
rapidly or extensively developed.
In order properly to connect this state of things

with its primary causes, it will be necessary, just
for a
moment,
to glance at the state of old Spain,
about the time of the invasion of that country
by
STATE OF OLD SPAIN.
20
Bonaparte.
first
That was
also the time at
symptoms of revolutionary
which the
feeling
became
observable in South America.
The degradation and poverty

Spanish nation had
lo require
king,
into which the
then sunk, are too well
any elucidation here.
An
a traitorous Prince of Peace,
known
imbecile
a corrupt
a powerful, bigoted, and tyrannical

nobility,
the middling classes of the inhabitpriesthood,
an
ants without either education or patriotism,
exhausted revenue,
annihilated navy,
a miserable army,
and an
with, as the only respectable
feature of national affairs, a noble peasantry
such were the shattered elements of which the
Spanish monarchy was composed.

This state of things, we know, was the result of
long national grievance and misrule: and,

consider the tendency there
is
if
we
in all delegated
governments to become worse, in proportion as

they are thrown at a distance from the centre of
authority,
we may form some
estimate, from
we know the Spanish monarchy
what
to have^ been, of
what her vice-regal monarchies in miniature in

the New World, at a distance of from five to ten
thousand miles, must have been.
GOVERNMENT OF THE COLONIES.
21
South America, while dependent on the mother

country, was under the rule of viceroys
tains-general,
to
them
and cap-
whose sway was almost regal. Next

an intermediate link between
in power, as
them and the people,
in civil
and criminal
affairs,
were the audiencias, or supreme courts of justice
and
lastly, there was the cabildo, a municipal
body corresponding, in some measure,

stitution of mayor and aldermen.
Under the
to our in-
particular instruction of the Spanish
and with the laws of the Indies as an
cabinet,
ostensible code, did the viceroy,
and those subor-
dinate to him, conduct the affairs of the Spanish

colonies.
The
instructions given to the viceroy
Spanish court, however,
by the
from distance, from
the general system of Spanish mal-administration,
and from the
difficulty of establishing
practical responsiblity of office,
a dead
letter.
this they invariably
was the viceroy's interest
whenever
it
them so
which
To
any
became nearly
it
generally was,
turned
to render
when they had
for their object the amelioration of the
country
over which he presided, and of which the effectual
misrule was his positive gain.
GOVERNMENT OF THE COLONIES.
22
laws of the Indies, though framed in
The
many
respects with
liberal policy,
were seldom carried into
and almost never

munity.
a humane tendency, and
for the
that could be raised from
a jealous and
was a continual
and
the revenue
all
them on the plan of

was
restricted commercial policy,
ever urgently called for

try.
benefit of the com-
Spain in her poverty
drain upon the colonies;
effect,
by the mother coun-
So much only was kept back as was neces-
sary to defray the expenses of the local govern-
ment, and satisfy the demands of a corrupt and
In proportion
rapacious colonial administration.
as the exigencies of Spain increased, a
still
greater
relaxation in the government of the colonies took

place.
More
supplies were
wanted by the mother
country, in consequence of the growing expense

to which she
was put by the French invasion.
Smaller sums were remitted from America, on

the allegation of
colonies.
It
symptoms of discontent
in the
was alleged that these required to
be awed into silence by additional

course additional expense.
The
force,
force
and of
was not
provided; but the supplies stated to be necessary for its payment were withheld from Spain.
23
MILITARY FORCE.
From
by
the weakness to which Spain was reduced
foreign invasion
and domestic
strife,
and from
a "relaxation of the control which she exercised

over her colonies, these latter began to consider
whether they might not legally assert, and, m et

armis, maintain the same rights to govern, by
juntas, their own affairs, which some of the provinces of Spain
of theirs.
On
had assumed
in the
government
in towns
around
them,
looking
which were the seats of a viceroy or president,

the Creoles saw him supported, at the most, by
half-a-dozen regiments of ill-disciplined infantry ;
by a
slight train of artillery
or two of cavalry.
Many
and by a squadron
officers, and even
of the
some of the commanders, of these troops were

natives
they were encompassed by a population,
of which the proportion to themselves of old
Spaniards was not as one to twenty ; they knew

that the greater part of the militia of the coun-
was made up of American-born subjects;

that most of the provincial towns, though com-
try
manded by
military chiefs from
garrisoned by native troops

state,
under her present
or nothing against
them
Old Spain, were
and that the parent
difficulties,
could do
in the
of invasion.
way
little
MILITARY FORCE.
24
Upon
these observed matters of
fact,
and upon
the plausible ground of legal right to follow the
example of self-government set by the juntas of

Spain, did the South Americans commence their
Revolution.
Yours, &c.
THE AUTHORS.
25
LETTER
III.
INTRODUCTORY.
To J
Revolution in Buenos Ayres
-,
In the Interior Provinces
Anecdote of him
His character
of General Liniers
ESQ.
lution in Paraguay
Revolution in Upper Peru
Elio and Montevideo
Final emancipation
General Miller.
Character of warfare
Death
RevoGeneral
Civil discord
London, 1838.
BUENOS AYRES was the
first
of the disaffected
made any
effectual innovation
the order of things that
had been established
viceroyalties that
upon
by Old Spain.
The
greater proximity of the
capital of the River Plate,
than of the other
South America, to Eu-
Spanish possessions in
rope; an abatement, by Spain, in favour of Buenos
Ayres, of some of the restrictions under which the

other viceroyalties had been laid
the total ab-
sence of nobility, and of the feudal feeling, which,
under their
influence,
pervaded some of the other
parts of South America

VOL.
i.
these things, together
26
REVOLUTION IN BUENOS AYRES.
with a great accession of light poured in upon
Buenos Ayres by General Whitelock's invasion,

and great confidence created in her own resources
by
his defeat, all
seemed
to
mark
it
out as the
place destined to stand forth in the van of revolu-
tionary movement.
So
it
did
and the remarks which follow have
At
reference more immediately to that state.
same time they
will
show a very
the
close analogy
between the workings of the Revolution
in the
River Plate and elsewhere, because, in point of

fact,
with slight modifications, the efforts
throw
off
made
to
the yoke of Old Spain, and the results of
those efforts, have been nearly similar throughout
South America.
In reciting the events connected

with one revolutionary movement, you show forth
the general principles, and almost the historical
In each, and every province the

same thing was to be done by people of one comdetails of
mon
all.
brought up under the same laws,

and institutions. They had to rid themselves of
family,
the Spanish yoke, and, after doing so, to organize
governments of their own. How well they succeeded in the former effort, and to what an extent
they have as yet failed in the latter, you have

already been told.
But
27
to descend a little
more
to particulars.
The
revolution
in
Buenos Ayres (Cizneros
being then viceroy) commenced in 1810, in this

way.
Cornelio Saavedra, colonel of the best regiment
in town,
and himself a South American, so
far
concerted measures with the other military chiefs
whom he
could bring over to his interest, as to
secure their co-operation in the overthrow of the
Spanish authorities. This Saavedra, with one or

two more chiefs, having previously put their re-
giments under arms, waited on the viceroy and

told him with much civility, but great decision,
that the order of things was about to be changed.
A similar
encia, or
intimation was conveyed to the audi-
supreme court of justice, and to the

mayor and aldermen's court. This
cabildo, or
was then constrained to summon the inhabitants of the town to what is called a " cabildo
latter
abierto," or
open
court,
and
to inform
them of
the contemplated change in the government of

the country.
This change consisted in the sub-
stitution for the viceroy's sole authority, of that
of a junta, the leading and influential
men of
c2
28
which were to be Americans.
now
The
viceroy,
aware
that the military were against him, without
time to calculate, and certainly unable to foresee,

the extent of innovation, with which the present
movement was
fraught, found himself in the
new
and anomalous position of being constrained not

but to
only to relinquish his vice-regal power,
exchange
for a vote as
it
member
of that very
revolutionary junta, which had deposed him.
The
ostensible object of this junta
was
to up-
hold the sacred rights of Ferdinand VII., in
whose name
all its first
decrees were issued.
Its
was to pave the way for that

complete independence of 'the mother country
which was, at no distant period, proclaimed.
real object, however,
There was
policy connected with the incorpora-
two or three days, of the viceroy with

the junta as one of its members.
Some extolled
tion, for
it
as creditable to the
sagacity of the junta
condemned
it
others
as indicative
only of the craft of
the revolutionary leaders,

It
was
certainly, in its effects, at once
degrading to Cizncros, and injurious to the interests of

Spain.
The
viceroy's
name was
associated, as a
mem-
REVOLUTION IN THE INTERIOR.
29
ber of the junta, with its first proceedings, and

attached to the orders forthwith issued to the
provincial troops
and towns
to
recognise the
newly- constituted authorities. These orders were,
of course, very conducive to the speedy attain-
ment of the
object desired.
This accomplished,
and accomplished with the apparent concurrence

of the poor viceroy, he was shipped off, and with
him the leading members of the audiencia, in a

small cutter, at midnight, for Old Spain, or the
Canary Islands.
These transactions,
it will
be seen, ushered in
a revolution, which, though partial in
its
avowed
in its ultimate effect;

object, has proved complete
and
yet,
during the whole of the movement de-
scribed, not a single life
was
lost.
The power which had governed
the country
hundred years was overthrown in one

night; the Creoles, who had been considered by
the old Spaniards as an inferior race of beings,
for three
had now the
and fortune of those Spaniards

the treasures of the New Con-
fate
in their hands
tinent, instead of
for the use of the
being unlocked, as heretofore,
mother country, were now
to
be
INVASION OF CORDOVA.
30
for the
employed
permanent annihilation of her
authority.
A very few weeks brought all the interior towns

and provinces
in the ancient viceroyalty of
Ayres over to the views, and under the
Buenos
control,
of the capital, with the exceptions of Cordova,
Paraguay, a portion of Upper Peru, and Montevideo.

Wherever a change of government took
was effected
in pretty
place,
it
way,
with equal quiet,
with like
it
may
much
the
same
almost be said
civility to the Spanish authorities,
as
Buenos Ayres.
This state sent against Cordova a small force
under the command of General Casteli; and it
at
defeated a body of about 800
men
(called in
South America an army) led against the Buenos

Ayres troops by General Liniers, and the Bishop
of Cordova.
It
was
this
same General Liniers who had so
successfully repelled the attack
made by General
Whitelock, only three years before, on Buenos

Ayres. By a loose liberality of conduct, very
manners, and prodigal distribution of viceregal favour, he had acquired great popularity
affable
CHARACTER OF
31
LI1SIERS.
but though he was undoubtedly a brave officer,

and though his little body of men was exhorted
and encouraged to the combat, by the bishop,

Liniers was defeated, made prisoner, and with
several of the officers nearest to
was shot not

rebel.
The
far
from the
bishop himself
field
him
in rank,
he
of battle, as a
made
a very narrow
escape from a similar fate ; and thus timely warn-
ing was given to the church, that clerical dignity,

in the new order of things, should be no shield to
This was the
political delinquency.
it
may be
said,
which was
first
blood,
spilt in the revolution-
ary cause.
Every one regretted the untimely fate of LiHe was a man, who so far from ever havniers.
ing used his authority of viceroy for purposes of
despotism or oppression, seemed only to value
it
him the means of doing universal

There was scarcely an inhabitant of
as affording
good.
Buenos Ayres, who had

been beholden to him.
way or the other,

had the rare virtue,
not, one
He
as a public man, of allowing distress in all its
varied forms, to be
its
own
title to his relief
of
it
and merit, with him, was the best and surest
ANECDOTE OF LINIERS.
32
passport
blamed
to
for
He
promotion.
making himself
very often, for too great a

favours.
little
The milk
counteracted
ture of gall, that
of
in
it
was
too
sometimes
facility in granting
human kindness was

course
its
so
tinc-
by any
flowed forth in a perpetual
stream of blessing to
all
around him.
His bene-
volence was limited to no particular class

his philanthropic
and
accessible,
spirit
was so universally
and
es-
teemed, that his very enemies allowed that even

" his
failings leaned to virtue's side,"
The
officer
following anecdote, communicated
who was the
illustrate at
once the
subject of
facility
it,
may
complained
by the
serve to
of,
and
the good nature admired, in General Liniers.

Lieut. Gonsalez
had distinguished himself
in the
defence of Buenos Ayres, against the English,
and went accordingly
to Liniers to lay before
him
his claim to promotion.
It
and orders were given,

sence, to promote him
in the lieutenant's pre-
"
was at once admitted,
rank of captain.
you have fulfilled my
to the
"
Sir," said the officer,
most sanguine expectations, and laid

an obligation to you, which I trust I
me under
shall ever
ANECDOTE OF LINIERS.
bear in grateful remembrance.
But
33
alas
am
not in a condition to accept the rank you have

conferred on me."
" How so ?" asked the
viceroy, somewhat sur"
" to
Indeed, Sir," replied Gonsalez,
prised.
be candid with your Excellency, I have not

money enough to buy the two epaulettes and
lace necessary to equip me as a captain."
"
" that is rather
Well/' said General Liniers,
unfortunate, particularly as I
to help you.
am
myself too poor
But do you think you could
trive to purchase a lieutenant-colonel's

(i
Oh
con-
uniform
?"
that I could, your Excellency," replied the

" Well
and astonished man.
half-doubting
then," said the viceroy,
<f
you
shall
be a
lieu-
tenant-colonel, instead of a captain."

It
may
be necessary to remark that the uni-
form in the Spanish service gets plainer and less

costly as the officer advances in rank ; and that
while a captain has two gaudy epaulettes, and a
great superfluity of lace on his coat, the only
badge by which a lieutenant-colonel is distin-
guished consists in a couple of very narrow strips

of gold lace, on his coat-sleeve. This will account
for the
manner
in which
General Liniers at once

c 3
REVOLUTION
34
PARAGUAY.
IN
met the poverty, and increased the rank of an

indigent, but meritorious
officer.
It was the very popularity and amiability of
Liniers which led to his death.
They would
have spared, in the same circumstances, a man

who had less hold on the feelings, and affections
of the people.
An
expedition,
similar
to
that
despatched
Buenos Ayres
against Paraguay, under the command of General
against Cordova, was
now
sent by
Belgrano.
The two Paraguayan chiefs, Yegros and Cavallero,
acting under the authority of the Spanish
General Velasco, then governor of Paraguay, defeated Belgrano's army.
But though Belgrano
was defeated, the Spanish power in Paraguay

was very shortly afterwards overthrown for the
;
Paraguayan generals referred
to, in
command
of
the victorious troops, turned themselves against

Velasco's authority ;
and established, again with-
out bloodshed, an independent junta.
Of
this
junta the celebrated Dr. Francia was,
first
the
secretary,
shall
and afterwards a member
but as we
give you, in subsequent letters, as well

an account of him as of the isolated province
REVOLUTION IN UPPER PERU.

which
he has ruled, and
for nearly thirty years
which he
still
35
rules with a rod of iron,
it is
unne-
more on the subject here, than is

show its connexion with the events
cessary to say
required to
now under
consideration.
army, augmented at
Cordova, proceeded to Upper Peru; but being
defeated by a superior force at the Desaguadero,
General Casteli's
failed of then
to
little
achieving
push the revolution
its
which was
object,
into the interior of that
country.
It soon afterwards, however, asserted its
and though
free, and subject
independence
alternately
Viceroy of Lima,
it
it
was
for
own
some time
to the control of the
has now, for
many years, been
an independent state.
It was finally wrested
from Spain by General Sucre, after the battle of
Ayacucho, and
it
then obtained the designation
of Bolivia, in honour of General Bolivar.
Thus, in the course of a few months

first
revolutionary
movement
at
after the
Buenos Ayres,
the whole provinces on one side of the River Plate,
and many of those on the other, as

at the foot of the Andes,
as
Upper Peru, and
on the
far as
west,
Mendoza
and as high
the borders of the Brazilian
GENERAL ELIO AND MONTEVIDEO.
36
territory
fare,
on the
north, were, with very little war-
completely emancipated from the authority
of Old Spain.
Montevideo, and a small portion of territory on
what
is
called the
Banda
Oriental, or east side of
the River Plate, held out for about three years

longer, under
the
command
of General Elio.
This person was despatched with reinforcements

from Spain, some time after the news of the revo-
Buenos Ayres had reached that country.

came dignified with the title of Viceroy, and
lution at
He
it
was intended that he should reassume the au-
thority connected with
it
But he was too
vinces.
over the revolted prolate.
The
fortress of
Montevideo was besieged by General Alvear;

Eiio's fleet was boarded and taken on a
morning
of dense fog, by Admiral Brown, who commanded
a few merchant- ships very indifferently
equipped,,
under the flag of Buenos Ayres ; and the Viceroy,
penned up within the walls

at once
(his fortress
being
bombarded, blockaded, and in a state of
starvation)
capitulated,
retired to Spain,
and
the whole country in the unmolested

possession of the
revolutionary party.
left
It has
been already observed, that
in
some of
FINAL EMANCIPATION.
37
the viceroyalties the war with Spain was later
begun, and that in others, especially Colombia, it was more protracted than in the River
Plate.
The
concluding struggle, in the southern heIt was carried on with

misphere, was in Peru.
various success on either side
of Ayacucho
till, first
the battle
(fought on the 9th of December,
1824), and subsequently the surrender of Callao
by Rodil (on the 19th of January, 1826),
esta-
blished the independence of the whole country.
From
that time
till
this, generally,
much
to the River Plate, from a

all
that
we have heard of
movements, and
political
and in respect
earlier period,
revolutions, military
changes, has had refer-
ence to intestine quarrels
among
the Americans
We shall say nothing of the prewhich

these petty but desolating civil
upon
wars have been undertaken and carried on ; but
themselves.
texts
the effect of them, too obvious for a
moment
to
be disputed, has been to leave the land more

impoverished, and the inhabitants more divided,
every successive year.
general engagement in South America has
always meant a battle in which from three to four
CHARACTER OF WARFARE.
38
very seldom five thousand,
thousand men,
been engaged on each
have
side.
General San Martin's crossing of the Cordillera of the Andes with four thousand men to
liberate Chile
the battles which he fought at
Chacabuco and Maypu, on entering that

tory
terri-
the battle of Ayacucho, which finally libe-
rated Peru
and two
engagements
or three of General Bolivar's
in Colombia, approach
more
to the
character of scientific warfare, than attaches to
the more frequent, but less formidable move-
ments and petty encounters, by which the revolution was mainly effected.
No
doubt many hardships were undergone, and
many
privations endured, in the course of the
desultory fighting and guerilla campaigns carried on by the Americans against the Spanish
forces,
which existed at the commencement, or
were organized in the course of the revolution.

Brigadier-generals with divisions of four hun-
dred
men
colonels or captains with one or two
companies small parties of militia armed with rusty

;
pikes, carbines,
shoes,
and
sabres, without coats, without
mounted on lean
cropped
to
horses, with
show they belonged
one ear
to the " patria"
GENERAL MILLER.
39
with beef, and beef only, for their sustenance,
and the open firmament of heaven for a canopy;

have signalized themselves by acts of great bravery, and given many proofs of hardihood and
address.
General Miller, for instance, whose name

associated with all that
Chile and Peru, and
is
is
brave in the wars of
who distinguished himself
in almost every great action fought during their
course, can afford our mention of
small scale.
He
a hundred and
to
here, on a
once marched with a force of
fifty
the environs
him
men from
of
the Peruvian coast
town called Arequipa,
ninety miles inland, and containing 16,000 inhabitants.
He
threw
it
into the utmost consterna-
tion, from the belief which he artfully diffused

among the inhabitants, that he had a greater
force behind;
till,
which was to draw
having effected his object,

a division from the enemy's
off
main body, about to be attacked by the army to

which General Miller belonged, he made good
a most arduous and
difficult retreat
through a
barren and desert country, and came to Lima,

with the loss of very few men, though, before he
could reach his point of embarkation, he was
GENERAL MILLER.
40
harassed and
forces
on every
hemmed
in
by greatly superior
side.
Feats like this are of frequent occurrence in

the history of the revolution nor is it devoid of
:
the materials necessary to furnish details of mili-
movements which might be of interest to

military men. But our object is to give an account
tary
of leading facts and general results.
This slight
sketch of the position, in a military point of view,

of Buenos Ayres, and more or less of
America, shall therefore
suffice.
all
We
Spanish
now pro-
ceed to give you a rapid sketch of the state in
which the South Americans were
left
by
their
revolution.
Yours, &c.,
THE AUTHORS.
41
LETTER
IV.
INTRODUCTORY.
To J
ESQ.
Spanish Population of South America South American Nobility

South American Education the Clergy the Lawyers
the Landed Proprietors of Chile and Peru Estancias, or
Cattle
Farms
Estancieros, or
Landed
Chacareros, Farmers or
Ayres
HAVING, then,
in the
way
Proprietors of
Yeomen
Buenos
General Remarks.
stated, freed themselves
from the force by which they had been held in

subjection, the Americans had now a much more
arduous, and, as
difficult
work
it
has proved to them, a more
to undertake,
that of their poli-
tical regeneration.
In order the better to appreciate the difficulties

under which they have laboured in this respect,
and
to ascertain the causes which
have operated
up to the present moment, the establishment among them of anything like settled or free
to retard,
governments, in an Englishman's acceptation of

the phrase,
it
will
be necessary to give some
SPANISH POPULATION.
42
account of the course of education to which Old
and
Spain limited the inhabitants of her colonies,
which
of
state
of the moral and religious
society
grew out of
In the
those
it.
first place,
it
is
to
be observed, that
who emigrated from Old Spain
the colonies, were generally
to settle in
men of neither family,
Storekeepers from
Galicia, small merchants and publicans from Catafortune, nor
education at
home.
Iuna 5 clerks and attorneys from Biscay, and sailors,

drudges, and mechanics from Andalusia, made
up the mass
of the old Spanish population.

It
was only the Viceroy, his staff, and more immediate dependents, the
members
of the audiencia,
or judges, the employe's of the public offices,

officers
of the navy,
who had any
and
pretensions
either to gentlemanlike deportment or tolerable
education.
Liberality of feeling, extension of
view, or anything approaching to philosophic
and
enlightened principle, not having been taught,
own
country, could
not be imported by them into the
new one they
even to their betters, in their
adopted.
All the natives of old Spain were
emphatically and indiscriminately denominated

"
"
by the South Americans, Godos," or Goths."
SOUTH AMERICAN NOBILITY.
There was another
43
class of inhabitants not to
be found in Buenos Ayres, but abundant in Chile

and Peru, descended from the early settlers, and
who had lofty pretensions

were furnished with
however, had no
to birth.
titles
Many of them
This
of nobility.
class,
better claims either to manners
or education than their neighbours.

course of living a son gre
long
of indulging in all the
loose habits which such a climate very often generates
and of
falling into
a disregard of such out-
ward decorum and family observances, as involved

the slightest personal inconvenience, caused the
dignity of the nobleman to yield to the ease of
the plebeian
till at last the

;
only traces of the
of
the
and
the
count were to be
origin
marquess
found in the
gilt
wheels of their cumbrous car-
uncouth griffins and lions rampant,

carved in wood and daubed with paint, over the
riages, or the
gateways of their mansions.

have had the honour of dining with some
of these noblemen and we have seen them sit
We
down
to dinner with their shirt-sleeves rolled
to their elbows
up
their shirt-collars arranged purely
for the convenience of free

breathing
the females
of the house attired in their morning deshabille,
SOUTH AMERICAN NOBILITY.
44
and the party attended by black slaves, clothed

with the same happy and unceremonious reference to ease and comfort.
Two
female slaves, with towels over
their
shoulders, carried large silver basins round the
table after dinner, for the necessary purpose of
The
ablution.
luxury of finger-glasses had not
yet superseded in
at once of
concord.
Lima
this
more primitive mode,
washing hands, and evincing family
After
this,
taking from a glass a small
wooden toothpick, with elbows on the
table,
in all the familiarity of chit-chat, listless, a
and
little,
and monotonous, the party began to pick their

Drowsiness at length was indicated by
many a nod and, under the increasing heat of the
teeth.
day, the hour of the siesta was proclaimed with
many
a yawn.
The whole
consent, then walked
off,
party,
by common
each to their respective
chambers, where, darkening the room, and

further disencumbering the
still
body of every super-
fluous appendage, they sank into all the luxury
of the siesta, or two hours' nap after dinner.
Hereditary title and distinction have been lost

in the Revolution ; and the nobleman has fallen
back into the ranks of the commonalty.
SOUTH AMERICAN EDUCATION.
For the education
45
of the sons of these different
classes of inhabitants of the Spanish colonies, there
were distributed over the continent several colfounded by the Jesuits, and universities
almost entirely under the direction of the priests.
leges
In Cordova, there was one more celebrated unia sort of South American
versity than the rest,
Salamanca
in
Lima
there was another.
Chuquisaca, and Santa
Fe de Bogota were
of learning of almost equal note.

sorted
all
Cuzco,
To
seats
these re-
the youth from the different and far
and
distant towns
villages of the continent, for
such education as the universities afforded
and
they returned to the places of their nativity, and

to their
own
families,
what they were made by
the course of instruction, to which, in the

time, they
had been
mean
subjected.
The branches taught were Literas Humaniores,

the theology of the Roman Catholic church,
logic,
upon the
syllogistic precision,
the code
the philosophy of the schools,

strictest
of
models of
Eoman
law, with
all
the minutise of Spanish
The universities only professed,

make theologians and lawyers. The
jurisprudence.
in fact, to
profession of medicine was in the hands of here
46
quack from Old Spain,
and there a better
sort of
who mounted on
his mule, with a
and
looked down with disdain upon
silver bridle,
peak saddle,
the crowd of mulatto practitioners,

teeth, let blood,
and dealt
who drew
in simples.
Surgery
was almost unknown; and the sciences of che-
mistry, mathematics,
and natural philosophy, as
taught in these enlightened days, were altogether

They were considered not as useless
proscribed.
merely, but as dangerous to the state.
tent with having
its
Not
con-
subjects thus closely pent
within the confines of ignorance
and
up
superstition,
the court readily concurred with the inquisition in
framing progressively enlarged
lists,
ever issuing, of prohibited books.
Montesquieu, and
all their
which
it
Locke, Milton,
heretical followers, it
well known, were included in those lists
is
was
so
that knowledge, even with all the allay of the

schools,
and
all
the trash of councils, was literally
weighed out to the Americans in grains and

scruples.
Such was the
and prejudice
state,
in
generally, of ignorance
which South America was, at
the period at which the Revolution broke out.
Of
natural
or
unschooled
talent
there
is
great deal there.
vivacious
47
imagination
is
almost universal in the inhabitants; and in the

fine
language which they possess, they express

if not an eloquence,
themselves with a fluency,

at which
we seldom aim, and

This
seldomer attain.
to
facility
which we much
has grown out of
their tertulia, or conversazione habits.
Among
the lawyers, the constant practice of dictating to
an amanuensis, the
definitions, reasonings,
and
refutations in the various cases in which they
are retained, enable

write with fluency
them
and
often to write,
and elegance, upon
to
subjects,
the theory and bearing of which they study for
Of
the occasion.
course
all
such writings are
more plausible than profound, more replete with
The
declamation than sound reasoning.

nation of the South American
is
constantly at
work; and unconsciously, perhaps, he

showing
forth,
they ought
to
among
imagi-
is
ever
his countrymen, things as
be, not as they are.
When we
hear him descant, in glowing and eloquent terms,
on
"civil liberty,"
"freedom of the press," "libe-
ral education," "privileges of the constitution,"
we fancy
there must be a tolerably good found-
ation laid of all these blessings, before so
could be said about them.
much
THE CLERGY.
48
Yet
the ideas which are raised in our minds
by
the enumeration of such social benefits, are certainly different from those which arise in the
of a South American.
As
yet the whole
better than a theory, while
little
it
mind
is to
him
forms with us
a series of practical principles, which we have been

cultivating and perfecting during a course of consecutive ages.
Spain so arranged her system of education in

the colonies, as to make theology the study of
chief attraction, because, constituted as the
Catholic church was, she thought
it
Roman
the system
least likely to interfere with her political plans
or rather she thought
And
prop.
so
it
was,
it
would be their best
the main one,
as long
as the clergy continued faithful in their allegiance.
This was only so long, however, as the power of

dispensing ecclesiastical favour was retained by
Spain.
Whenever, by any military movement,
the temporal authority of the mother

country
was upset, and the spiritual authority menaced,
as it generally soon after was, in the
person of
the bishop, the inferior members of the

church,
those in immediate contact with the
people, a
little
hesitated;
for the
new
but they soon
order of things.
finally declared
Their natural sa-
THE CLERGY.
gacity,
self-interest
was concerned, soon
to see that it
was on the movers of
where
taught them
49
the Revolution they were hereafter to depend for
promotion.
Spain, as a lure to theological study,
had sometimes conferred canonships, deaneries,

and even bishoprics upon the natives of South
America; but generally, while the offices of curate
and friar were freely enough bestowed on them,
the higher, more authoritative, and lucrative dignities of the church,
were in the hands either of
natives of the mother country, or of persons closely
connected with them by the bonds of interest
and
and
These European dignitaries
relationship.
their adherents
were shaken upon their seats,
and many of them from
their seats,
shock of revolutionary commotion.

Creoles lifted
and convents
up
by the
The
first
aspiring
their eyes from their curacies
high places of dignity already

vacant, and to the many more that no distant
futurity
pants.
to the
be preparing for new occuThe political and more active movers in
seemed
to
the Revolution, saw and encouraged this ambition

in the clergy.
higher
They not
only promised to
ecclesiastical authority,
to a participation of that
them
but invited them
which was purely poli-
THE CLERGY.
50
They embodied them in their provincial

sent them on diplomatic missions,
legislatures,
tical.
and gave them
understand that, while the
to
prejudices of the people rendered

still
it
necessary
to acknowledge the authority of the pope,
yet that the clerical affairs of South America
should be substantially regulated thenceforward
by the clergy themselves.*

Thus the inferior and middling ranks of
this
class advocated, almost to a man, the cause of
the Revolution, and brought over to
its
support,
with feelings of sacred and religious obligation,

whole masses of the lower orders. Little did
these holy
men
then calculate or foresee that a
reaction was at the very door.
Their eagerness
up and take possession of the chief seats

of civil and ecclesiastical authority, blinded them
to go
to the consideration that it
of the Revolution which

rity
of the pope,
was in the very nature
had shaken the autho-
and superseded that of the
bishop, soon to overturn their own.

They saw
not that the popular assemblies of which they
had become members, weak and ignorant

* Ferdinand was
pope the
made
ecclesiastical one.
as they
the political stalking-horse, and the
THE LAWYERS.
were,
had that
liberation
51
in their very constitution of de
and debate,
for
cation was inadequate,
which a Cordova edu-
and with which a blind
adherence to the dictates of their church was

wholly incompatible.
This
reaction has
cer-
tainly not yet fully taken place, but it is taking
In Buenos Ayres, with reference to the

it
may be said really to have been brought
place.
friars,
about.
From
of the fraternities, save one,
all
the convents and revenues there have been taken
and converted
The lawyers
to the public use.
certainly returned to their homes,
from the university, a better and less ignorant

class of men than the clergy.
Yet law is nonot even in our own
where in the world, perhaps,
a less tangible means of de-
court of chancery,
ciding a difficulty with justice and despatch, than

in
Buenos Ayres,
A law plea there is
rally.
which,
who
or in South America gene-
if
obstinately pursued,
follow
loser,
may be
a sort of ignis fatuus,
it
up,
into the
the
is
sure to lead all
gainer, as well
quagmire of ruin
otherwise, indeed,
if
as the
at last.
It
one of the parties
an early stage of the question, effectually

buy justice; but even then, he gains just so
can, at
D2
THE LAWYERS.
52
much
as the
expended
amount contended
in the
Justice in South
venality,
for, less
sum
the
of bribery and corruption.
way
America
is
sadly tainted with
and the amount of douceur
to a judge,
or to an advocate of the opposing party,
is
so
measured by the nature of the case, and

of the sum at issue, that a man's gain is rather
nicely
what he does not

than what
it
by following up the plea,

him to bring it to even a
lose,
profits
successful termination.
Honest judges and advocates there certainly

are and in many causes of which we know, the
;
pleadings have not been less acute and eloquent,
judgments characterized by legal

knowledge and precision. At the same time, it
than
the
not unfrequently happens, when the intentions

of the judge are really good, that he
is
sorely
puzzled, from the habits acquired at the university of
right,
making the same case out

and logically wrong, ho\v
effect to a righteous
judgment.
to
to
be logically
give legal
Sometimes, too,
on the part of the judge, a continued,

though probably unconscious, mental reservation,
in favour of the fortune and the rank of a party
you
find
litigant.
Or
there
is
a bias towards
him on
ac-
THE LAWYERS.
The mind
count of personal friendship.

is
judge
53
of the
thus swayed against the reasoning, and
his eyes are turned
from the
the case;
length he
till
at
facts
and justice of
furnished with
is
zealous sophistry, in support of a decision against
both
fact
There
and
law.
a commercial tribunal, or court, in
is
the country, called the Consulado, over which a

prior
and two
consuls,
for the trial of cases
commerce.
This
is
or associates,
preside,
connected with trade and
decidedly a respectable, as
well as a valuable institution.
Its decisions are
often given on a proces verbal;
though
it
also
conducted in writing, and

upon
extending to a great length, as in the courts of
decides
cases
Scotland.
The judges
nually,
and
of the Consulado are elected an-
in general
merchants.
They
are,
from among the body of

on the whole, the best-
informed, and most respectable
members
of the
mercantile class.
Unfortunately it is an inferior court and its

decisions, founded on common sense and equity,
;
may
be,
and
often are, reversed in the higher
tribunals.
The youth
of the
community not educated for
ESTANCIAS, OR CATTLE FARMS.
54
the church or the law, become managers of their
In
paternal estates, merchants, or shopkeepers.
and
Chile and Peru where the estates are large
to
productive, with a slave or vassal population
farm them,
lity
annexed
sometimes, too, with a

to them,
title
property, before the Revolution, was
enviable privilege,
grade
own
men
it
In those countries the
large landed proprietors looked
to their
deemed an
and the management of
desirable occupation.
merchants as on
of nobi-
the possession of landed
down upon the
of a distinctly inferior
in society.
In Buenos Ayres and Paraguay it was otherThe only landed possessions considered
wise.
of any value in the former place were the large

estancias, or cattle-farms.
Many
of these con-
and 100 square miles of land, and

some of them vastly more*. On this whole extained 80
tent of territory, there was not perhaps
found more than three or four
mud
to
be
huts, which
served as habitations for the ten or fifteen herds
who tended
the cattle, with one hut of some-
The Anchorena Family is said to be possessed of four hundred

square leagues (equal to twelve hundred square miles) of land, in
the province of Buenos Ayres ; and they derive an annual income
of 20,000/. from the sale of their
surplus cattle.
55
ESTAlxCIEROS.
what better construction
for the
owner of the
estate.
Each
from
five to
horned
had generally upon it

twelve or fifteen thousand head of
estate of this kind
cattle
owner may
of which
sell,
or
it is
calculated that the
yearly, one-fourth,
kill,
and
The proprietors of these

though men of solid property,
yet increase his stock.

estancias, however,
did not, previously to the Revolution, attain to

much importance in the community, for the fol-
lowing reasons.
In the
first place,
a limited and restricted com-
merce kept hides, the produce of their estates, at

An ox was seldom, before the
a very low value.
Revolution, worth more than four shillings: so
one of the most wealthy of them, with

15,000 head of cattle on his estate, killed, or sold,
that even
if
the fourth part, annually, his income did not ex-
ceed 800/. a-year. In the second place, small as

their incomes were, they did not spend the half
of them.
In most cases, unfortunately a large
proportion was absorbed by gambling.
they lived in obscurity,

like
In town
country,
by whom they were

mud hut for their dwell-
the peons, or herds,
surrounded, they had a
while, in the
ESTANCIEROS.
56
beef,
ing,
and
little
In the third
diet.
natives of the
more than
place, they
beef, for their
were almost
country, rustic in manners,
all
and
rude in scholarship and address, being possessed of the merest rudiments of a grammar-
They were without the
school education.
ing, scanty as
it
learn-
was, of either the priest or the
lawyer ; and without the means, therefore, of interposing that qualification to the claims of supe-
put forward by the haughty natives

of Old Spain, and by the better educated classes
riority ever
own countrymen.
The estanciero, or landed and cattle
of the estanciero's
propri-
and taking his station

in society accordingly, had his solace, and his
recreation in his own solitary avocations, and in
etor, feeling his inferiority,
the occasional society of those of his
with
whom he
own
class,
could expatiate upon fat herds of
fine years for pasture,
horses more fleet
than the ostrich or the deer,
the dexterity of
cattle,
those
who could
best,
from the saddle, throw
their noose, or laso, over the
or of
horns of a wild bull,
him who could make the
nicest pair of
boots from the skin stripped off the legs of a

potro, or wild colt.
ESTANCIEROS.
good,
substantial,
57
roughly-finished house
in town, with very little furniture in

sleek, fat horse,
on which to ride
loose amplitude of camlet
centre of
it for
a large,
with a hole in the
stuff,
his head,
shoulders over his body;
it
a poncho or
and
from his
falling
large silver spurs,
and
the head-piece of his bridle heavily overlaid with
a coarse hat fastened with
the same metal;
black leather thongs under his chin

box, steel, and
flint,
a tinder-
with which to light his cigar ;
a knife in his girdle, and a swarthy page be-
hind him, with the unroasted ribs of a fat cow,

for provision,
most
under his saddle
solid comfort,
constituted the
and met the most luxurious
Buenos Ayres
country gentleman. When, thus equipped and
provided, he could take to the plains, and see a
aspirations of the estanciero, or
large herd of cattle grazing in one place,

in another, hear
them lowing in the distance;
and when he could look round

miles
upon
full; his
and
rich pastures, all his
ambition satisfied;
for uninterrupted
own
his joy
was
and he was willing
at once to forget, and to forego, the tasteless
of
enjoyments and cumbrous distinctions
society.
D 3
artificial
ESTANCIEROS.
58
Thus
and thus was the country gentle-
lived,
of the River Plate educated, before the Re-
man
He
volution.
is
fortune,
ners,
now greatly improved in manand mode of life; and he is
to
rising gradually, but surety, to that influence
which a greatly increased, and increasing value

His cattle, which
of property naturally leads.
before the Revolution were worth only four shillings
a-head,
are
now worth twenty; and
these twenty he can
both of the necessaries and luxuries of
own commodity
for
buy double the quantity,

life (his
of cattle always excepted), which
he could procure
for
them
before.
Comfort and
convenience in his town residence are

necessary to
him and
classes of the
community.
now
as
his family as to the other
He
mixes more freely
in general society, takes a share in the affairs
and
offices
more
and though the estanciero himself may

adhere to many of his primitive and favourite
liberally
still
of state, educates his children
habits,
yet
many
a rich estanciero's wife and
daughters are to be seen driving about in hand-
some and modern-built carriages of their own.

A respectable, and, for their situation, an intelligent class of the country population is
made
CHACAREROS.
of the chacareros.
up
59
These may be
called,
what the Scotch term " bonnet lairds," the properties they cultivate being invariably their own.
They are the yeomanry of the country.

" suerte de
chacara," or lot of farming-ground,
by original crown grant, of the extent of a

league and a half one way, by half a league the
other.
It is equal to about six thousand acres
is,
but
its
is
increased or diminished in size, according to
distance from the city, to which
tiguous.
it is
most con-
These chacaras generally extend on
all
sides of the towns to the distance of six or seven
The
leagues.
chacaras,
and
farmers invariably live on their
are,
though neither a very indus-
trious nor scientific class of
and useful
in their way.
men, yet respectable

intercourse which
The
they keep up with the inhabitants of the city

gives them a quickness and shrewdness of apprehension, which
many of the
The
is
chacarero
small estancieros lack.
generally brave, frank, and hos-
His spouse and daughters are fond of

pitable.
" dia
de
gaudy finery; and he himself, on the
decks out his horse and per"
than he and
son (they being more " one flesh
fiesta," or holiday,
his
wife)
in
rich
trappings aad gay apparel.
Nothing can be more picturesque
or pleasing
GENERAL REMARKS.
60
than to see him mounted on his charger, escortwith

ing his family, also mounted, and bedizened
all
the colours of the rainbow, to the nearest ca-
pilla,
church, to attend mass of a Sunday.
or
He afterwards mixes, in
the vicinity of the chapel,
and courteous intercourse with
in kind
all
his
surrounding neighbours.
The
classes of
men enumerated,
with the mer-
dealers, store-keepers, mechanics,
chants, retail
and a large proportion of Creole black and mulatto

population, in the capacity of labouring people,
and domestic
servants,
make up
the mass of the
inhabitants of Spanish America.
From what
tendency,
if
has been said, you will see that the
not the object of education, in South
America, has been

state, at
to keep the people in a

most a few degrees removed from that
of absolute ignorance.
quence of
this,
As a
necessary conse-
and of the low opinion in which
they were held by the natives of the mother

country, they had sunk generally into political
and had yielded
indifference,
habits.
It
is
to
many immoral
abundantly evident that
it
was
short of an absurdity to expect, that from

such a state of moral degradation the people
little
should
all at
once have sprung into a condition
GENERAL REMARKS.
of manly integrity, public
spirit,
61
patriotic zeal,
political knowledge, or real independence of cha-
Of course we speak
racter.
record with pleasure that very

exceptions existed
Thus
it
and
and we
generally,
many honourable
exist to the general rule.
was, then, that though the South
ricans did not
want the penetration
Ame-
to perceive,
from the weakness of Spain, as contrasted with
own comparative strength, that in this respect the moment for revolutionary movement
their
had
arrived, they yet were in
no position
to give
the Revolution a high character of moral
to
standing.
They were destitute of many

make it immediately
elements required to
cial to
of the
benefi-
A consider-
them, as citizens and as men.
able time will, in all probability, yet elapse before
the
civil institutions
of the country can possibly
attain the stability, or be
founded in the wisdom
necessary to keep any tolerable pace with the
great natural improvements, and wealth, of which
the country
is
really susceptible.
An
enlarged
and enlightened system of general education

must be the forerunner of any such stability, and
is
alone adequate to usher in their really moral
and
religious emancipation.
At
the same time
it
would appear,
if
what has
GENERAL REMARKS.
62
here been said, be founded on correct observation,

that those
ment
who have expected an
earlier develop-
of the advantages of the South
Revolution, have expected what
it
American
was not in the
education, character, or circumstances of the inhabitants of the country to effect
erroneous conceptions formed of
its
and that the

character
and
importance have grown out of the too sanguine

views of those connected with it. But it is also
indisputable,
have
in
that
these
erroneous conceptions
no small degree owed
their origin to the
eager spirit of speculation, which in England
magnified
supposed
advantages,
and sometimes distorted sober

is
undeniable that
much
exaggerated,
facts.
Lastly,
it
of the error which has
prevailed on the subject of South America is to

be traced to the measures of the British cabinet.
Whether those measures had

tives of
European
their origin in
mo-
policy, or are to be imputed to
ignorance of the capabilities and real state of the

country,
it
it
seems not of much importance, even
were possible, now to determine.

Yours, &c.
THE AUTHORS.
if
63
LETTER
To J
V.
ESQ.
CONCLUSION OF INTRODUCTORY SERIES.

First
Attempts of the South Americans at Legislation Classes

South American Constitutions Nature of
of Legislators
Debate in Lima the Congress

Congress of Buenos Ayres General Form
of Debate the Governor's Palace His Excellency the
Governor Government Offices Legislative and Executive
Civil Broils
of
Lima
Legislation
the
Naval and Military Force
Powers
Impossibility of con-
quering South America Difficulties with which the South

Americans have still to contend the English in South Ame-
What
rica
Foreigners have to expect there.
London, 1838.
THE
after
movement of the Spanish provinces,

they had fairly got quit of the military power
first
of Old Spain, was of course in a popular direction.
Professing republicanism they thought it
necessary to regulate the affairs of the

nity by the
common
chosen by the people.
ment
of
all their
commu-
consent of representatives
This was the commence-
difficulties.
They assumed
it
64
II;;ST
ATTEMPTS OF THE
be necessary to do
to
that,
stances of the country
it
which in the circum-
was impossible
to do.
but
Kepresentatives they certainly got together,
not representatives freely chosen by the people.
Nor,
they had been so chosen,
if
is it
tain that the case would have been
mended.
The country
at all cer-
materially
could not furnish proper
representatives; but, collected together as they
generally were, under the immediate influence

of the military or political chief in power, for the
time being, they not only brought with them an

incapacity for legislative
enactments, but had
attached to them, in public estimation, and
more
rival
in the sagacious
still
and jealous estimation of
aspirants, the stamp of identity with the
interests
and views of the man
in present pos-
session of power.
It almost invariably followed, therefore, that
dissolution of the popular assemblies thus constituted, was coeval with the deposition of the chief,
whom
to
they owed their authority, and with
whose fortunes they were more or
The
current of popular feeling in favour
institutions of a free character,

in,
less identified.
that all those
who aimed
at
had
of
so far set
power found
it
SOUTH AMERICANS AT LEGISLATION.

to
be the safest and easiest way to attain and
keep
at
65
it,
to leave the people, if not the reality,
any rate the semblance of liberty.
fusely emblazoned
cuous
letters, in
They
pro-
name, therefore, in conspitheir public documents and
its
all
manifestos.
No
genius acute enough, nor any
little
despot
daring enough, made his appearance, prepared
to exercise unlimited sway, or capable of carrying
things exclusively with reference to his
own am-
bitious views, without this sacrifice to the tend-
ency of public opinion, in favour of popular

institutions. Even Bolivar found it necessary, till
within a very late period of his despotic career, to
cloak
all
his projects of
aggrandizement under
the guise of affected respect for such assemblies.
Doctor Francia alone, in the government of Paraguay, has shown himself above this necessity;
but his whole case, as we shall by-and-by

is
so
completely sui generis,

as in
unique,
so
isolated
see,
and
no way to bear upon the general
question.
The
following
may be taken
as a sketch of the
general character of the popular assemblies of
South America.
When
the party in possession
CLASSES OF LEGISLATORS.
66
of the executive power
had taken
his
measures in
such a way as to have his assumption of authority legalized by calling together the people, and
getting their vote in favour of his appointment
to
the
office
of Governor,
Director,
President,
or Dictator, the next thing he
set
about was
the election of Deputies, to form a Congress or
The same
Junta.
spirit
of intimidation
the
by which his popular
magistracy had been carried, was now put
intrigue
chief
and
election to
into active operation for the election of
Deputies
to the legislative assembly.
The
was generally what might have been

that this assembly was composed
anticipated;
result
of a majority favourable to his interests.
For
the purpose of presiding over the Congress, the
most important man, and most in favour with the

Governor elect, was chosen as a matter of course.
Two
Secretaries were
named, and the course of
debate was regulated by three or four of the bet*

ter class of orators,
confessedly,
misingly, supporters of the
man
and uncompro-
in power.
Among the Deputies to Congress were generally to be found a few merchants and landed
proprietors
but what head could these be ex-
SOUTH AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONS.

pected to
make against
67
the multitude of doctors
and doctors in theology ? Little, indeed

and their debates and enactments were such as
in law
might naturally be expected from men who had

or had
just thrown off their collegiate gowns,
grown old
in their collegiate prejudices.
With a
very limited knowledge of the world, or of business,
and not much read
in history, except in
that of Spain or of ancient
Home, they took the
institutions of these as the
ground-work of their
legislation,
without reference to their own
dif-
means,
re-
ferent political position,
knowledge
latively to the rest of the world, or the susceptibility of their
own countrymen
to
according to such principles as to
be governed
members of
Congress appeared most sublime and beautiful in

the theory of free constitutions. It was in this
way that the great
variety
and number of
consti-
tutional codes in South America were drawn up.

Every new Congress, almost, produced a new
Constitution, which, at the very time that
vided
liberty of the Press,

all
nations,
tive,
it
pro-
persons and property,

freedom of commerce with
for inviolability of
and
strict responsibility of the
execu-
was scarce promulgated, perhaps, before
NATURE OF CIVIL BROILS.
68
the gentlemen
them
in prison,
of the papers
who composed
were some of
and others banished ;
who had applauded
forced contributions, were
exigencies of the
it
the editors
were obliged
heavy duties, and often
to change their tone;
the head of
it
moment
levied to
serve the
and the great man
at
the time being was super-
affairs for
seded by a greater one at the head of more troops.

Loads of abuse were heaped upon the silenced
or banished legislators
everything criminal was
charged upon the deposed Governor; but no

trial of either one or the other, in a
single instance to our knowledge, ever took place.
elections,
new
debates,
new
New
Constitutions,
but yet precisely the same order of things ensued.
The
fact
most of these changes and

power were simply illegal changes
is,
struggles for
that
of administrations,
not "Revolutions," as they
were often hyperbolically called. And it maybe

remarked here to the honour of the South Americans, that their civil discords,
wars,
racter.
even their
civil
have generally been of a bloodless chaThe tendency was not to shed, but to
spare blood.
There are some unhappy instances
LEGISLATION.
69
but they are few, as compared

with the many conflicts carried on since the overthrow of the Spanish power.
to the contrary
One
great misfortune of South American legis-
lation has
been that the
men engaged
in
it,
instead of attending gradually and practically to
the reformation, one after another, of the abuses
which they inherited from Spain, and multiplied

by their own misgovernment, have overlooked
them
as something too trifling
near them,
and mean,
so tangible as at any time to
be
too
sus-
ceptible of remedy.
Such plain and homely matters as these have

been allowed to stand over, pending the discussion of metaphysical questions of political
individual right
and
of the comparative merits of a
government based upon a principle of federation,

and of one emanating from a common centre of
and executive power.

"
a
styled
gobierno de unidad"
legislative
of unity"
ment/*
as opposed to
The
latter
they
" a
government
a " federal govern-
'Twere no easy task to follow those con-
gresses through the amplitude of power with
which they sometimes proposed to invest their

own august body, and the diminished authority
LEGISLATION.
70
with which they would entrust the executive ; to
endeavour to show how nicely they would balance

the two, by means of a senate or how scrupu;
lously the criminal
and
steered clear of
undue bias or
all
civil
judicature should be
control.
Questions like these were more analogous to

the questions propounded for discussion after the
manner of the
than those required for
schools,
the slow and practical redress of the every day
and growing abuses which prevailed.

Questions of the former kind had moreover
this
advantage
that their decision did not im-
ply the necessity of any corresponding executive

regulation to give
them
effect.
tions of pure legislation
what the
Some
legislators liked
They were
and
this
them
for.
ques-
was precisely
years ago, Mr. Kibadavia threw the whole
interior provinces of the River Plate into a state
of ferment and civil war,

by a twelvemonths' discussion in congress, the object of which was to
decide that Buenos
should be a "
Ayres
de unidad."
The
gobierno
ambitious Bibadavia,
who was
have been at the head of the central

government, lost his federal presidency during the heat
to
of the
debate;
and
his
antagonist (Colonel
DEBATE IN LIMA.
71
Dorrego) coming in soon after as governor of
Buenos Ay res, the

federal
government
and
principles
privileges of
in their greatest latitude
were
of course established.
This same Colonel Dorrego, after being governor for eighteen months, and while he was indeed
yet governor, was shot
Centralists, the
men
"
by the Unitarios," or
of Mr. Ribadavia's party,
without form of
trial
The
fell, for a time, into the
country then
either legal or military.
hands
by whose immegovernor had been led to
of the military chief Lavalle;

diate orders, the legal
execution.
Mr.
J. P.
R. was in
Lima
in 1823,
and pre-
sent in Congress during a very heated discussion,
respecting
religious
toleration
course of the debate a learned
there.
In
the
member (Luna
Pizarro) opposed the measure by the following
notable argument
" It has been

"
urged," said he,
among
the
reasons which should induce us to pass a law for
the toleration of other religious creeds, that,
do
not, the
number of English
residents
if
we
among
us will be greatly diminished, and consequently

the trade which they bring to our shores.
Now,
DEBATE
72
IN LIMA.
I apprehend that the English
one or both of two things,
With
or our gold.
must either want

them.
come among us
either for our
respect to our
for
women,
women, they
marry them, or to seduce
to
If the former,
it is
against the principles
of our holy religion, that Catholics should inter-
marry with
heretics.
obvious corruption
If the latter,
of our
it
involves an
manners.
Both of
these things are to be provided against by legis-
enactment; and since the only attraction,

then, for the English will be our gold and silver,
lative
and
give them plenty
of
that;
prophecy that
will
have no more complaints
you
of the want of religious toleration.
not know
fearlessly
Who
does
that Buonaparte long ago called the
This apEnglish a nation of shopkeepers?"

peared quite conclusive: the law for toleration
was
rejected
and the Keverend
Mr.
Luna
Pizarro was two months afterwards busily em-
ployed in levying a forced contribution of two

hundred thousand dollars (fifty thousand pounds)
upon that part of Buonaparte's nation of shopkeepers,
who
as English merchants were then
resident in Lima.
Fortunately there was an
English frigate (the Aurora) commanded by a
DEBATE
73
IN LIMA.
distinguished officer on the station
and he put
a very practical stop to the theory of international law
which the Peruvian Deputies wished
to
establish.
Captain Prescott got his frigate
under weigh in a few minutes after he found that
calm remonstrance was unavailable; and he stop-
ped two
into
vessels to our consignment from
harbour.
coming
ships, he
As regards English
blockaded, in short, the port of Callao
and
in
two days he had a polite note from Government,

offering to relinquish their claims to the contribution,
and
to give the
leave the country.
English their passports to

Mr. J. P. R. was then called
by the President La Mar; and the question

was settled by negociating with the Government,
in
local,
and voluntary
loan.
shortly after this,
Very
was yet engaged
in
and while the congress
such
debates
the Spanish general, Canterac, came
as
these,
down upon
Lima, chased the legislative body from their

place of sitting, to the fortress of Callao
in a few days more, the balls from his
where,
camp again
disturbed them in a debate as to whether the

real governor of the country
themselves had elected,

VOL.
I.
viz.,
was the
man whom
the president Riva-
TIIK
74
CONGRESS OF LIMA.
guero, or General Sucre, sent from Columbia

Bolivar, to embroil parties,
The
lousies.
and the
and
by
foster petty jea-
congress decided in favour of Sucre;
latter, as the first exercise
of his authority,
thinking heat of war and heat of debate too much,

within the straitened precincts of a fortification,
sent the
members
called Truxillo.
of Congress off to a small town,
There they re-elected
their for-
mer governor, Rivaguero and as a proof of his

gratitude, he made twelve of them senators.
;
But
finding,
on their return to Lima to supOld Spaniards had
port his authority, that the
evacuated the place, and that a rival of Rivaguero, the Marquis of Torretagle, occupied,
in the
mean
senators and
of
it
time, the presidential chair
members
they joined Torretagle
his country.
Mr.
fortnight before, at a
both
of congress thought better
sitting in congress, declared
to
J.
and, at their
first
Rivaguero a traitor
P. R. was present, a
grand public dinner given
by that functionary, at Truxillo, to these very

men. Doctor Unanue, as president of the senate,
was also there,
the loudest in praise of Riva-
guero at Truxillo, the
first
his (the Doctor's) return to
to
condemn him on
Lima.
THE CONGRESS OF BUENOS AYRES.
75
So were most of the early congresses of South

Of eloquence there was
America constituted.
a good deal in them; of practical wisdom not
much
and of public
principle, alas
no great
Although a now lengthened intercourse

with foreigners, and dear-bought experience have
store.
greatly improved them,
must
it
still
be confessed
means of working out

and every-day reforms and yet it is for
that they are an inefficient

practical
this
purpose alone,
at
present,
that they
are
wanted, in order to regulate the legislative, judi-
and executive government of the country.

There are, of course, shades of difference
cial,
in
the degrees of knowledge brought together, in

the various sections of America, for legislative
purposes.
In Buenos Ayres,
for instance,
many
valuable and judicious reforms passed the house
of representatives, during the administration of

the very Mr. Bibadavia, whose political fortune
was afterwards wrecked upon the rock of the
" centralization "
question.
too, there is
more
practical
In Buenos Ayres,
knowledge of business
than in the other republics.
The
congress of Peru
grant religious toleration
is
not yet prepared to
that of
Buenos Ayres
E2
GENERAL FORM OF DEBATE.
76
has long ago passed
it
into a law, on very liberal
and enlightened terms.
Generally speaking,
it
affirmed that those States which have
may be
had longest and most extended

foreigners, are the
intercourse with
most practical
in their legisla-
tive capacity.
The form
Members
of South
take
their
American debate
seats,
assembled in an ante-room,
this.
is
having previously
till
a sufficient
num-
called a
ber is collected to constitute what
" a house."
"
The
and
sala,"
governby us,
ment secretaries or ministers have their respecis
but no vote, in the house.
tive places,
sident (or speaker)
sits
at
The
form raised above the level of the room.

is a bell at his right-hand, with
to order.
him
He
pre-
a table on a plat-
There
which he tinkles
has a secretary on either side of
and one or two reporters are seated immediately under him. In some places, the mem;
bers speak in a sitting position, which, to an
Englishman, has an awkward
effect.
In other
into a " tribune," or ros-
places they
mount up
trum.
the former position the graces
By
and
Tehemence of action are precluded and by the

latter, not only does action become a mere studied
;
77
display, but the notion of business is superseded
by the expectancy of a formal

not reconcile
see a
man
it
oration.
We can-
to ourselves, in the one case, to
sitting
and taking
his snuff-box out,
during the heat of debate (himself being at once

the snuffer and the speaker), any more than in
the other
we can
feel ourselves
warmed by the
over- wrought rapidity of action of a mercurial

spirit, or
the measured solemnity of a grave one
putting forth
its
ebullitions
from a box, of which
the sides are too high for elbow-room.
American members
South
of parliament, in the exercise
of a politeness not in use with ours, do not at
they have to
" I desire
say with a "pido la palabra;" that is,
once rise to speak, but preface
leave
His
to
speak."
eye has
first,
president nods assent.
been caught
member proceeds
at
The
all
and the honourable
in a strain, that, in accordance,,
with the modesty of his appeal, rises by
degrees, into such rude charges, and round assertions against his opponents, as to
draw from
them, long before he has finished, loud and fre-
quent interruptions, much denial of premises, and

motioning of the hand and head, as if to say,
You shall have an answer." This impatience
"
78
often proceeds so far, not on the part of the immediate opponent, alone, of the speaking member, but of all who take a different view of
the case, that the president
many
is
obliged to tinkle
times the bell by which he calls the
bers to order before he can procure
sooner
is it
procured, than
There are frequent
it is
calls,
it;
mem-
and no
again interrupted.
during the heat of
debate, to the "quarto intermedio," or quarter
of an hour's rest
and few
subjects, indeed, are
ever deemed of interest enough to warrant a
prolongation of the morning sitting, which ends

at
two o'clock
P.M., or
of the evening one, which
closes at nine.
In an early congress of Buenos Ayres, some

point was discussed of such unusual importance,
that at five o'clock in the afternoon, the sitting
had not come to a close. At this hour, a worthy

but rather gastronomic member rose and said
:
"
Gentlemen, I beg you to observe that, if we

thus prolong our debates
beyond our regular dinner-hour, these political discussions will at last
land us in our graves." He was cheered

by all
the old doctors present; and more
regular hours
were thenceforward observed.
Mr. Brotherton
THE GOVERNOR'S PALACE.

would be a well-supported member
79
in the
Buenos
Ayres House of Commons.

In this way, debates are lengthened out for
days and weeks. Part of the tactics, indeed, of
members
is
by postponement and delay,
to gain
what they cannot obtain by reason or argument

as one juryman has been known to starve his
:
eleven companions into a compliance with his
Seats are provided in the
view of the case.
"sala"
interest
what
and occasionally public
for the public;
and
curiosity are a
good deal excited by
going forward.
Going from the house of representatives, to
the house called the palace, formerly occupied by
is
the viceroy, and

dent,
we
now by the governor
find the entrance to
it
or presi-
guarded by a few
black soldiers not in the best habiliments.
Pro-
ceeding to the ante-chamber, we find a solitary

aide-de-camp, perhaps two, in attendance, with a
candle burning for the double purpose of lighting
a cigar and sealing a
ment
of your
name
to his Excellency,
letter.
generally procures admittance
who
study, adjacent to
A simple announce-
sits
in a sort of
the entrance-hall.
affectation of state in the
manner
office,
or
little
of the governor
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR.
80
but none in the arrangement

either of his chamber or dress; and patience,
is
observable;
and good breeding are almost always

and his
experienced, both from the governor
affability,
secretaries,
during the transaction of business
The
with them.
exceptions to this rule are rare.
Mr. Ribadavia, however,

man, upon
he went in
No
a striking one.
is
state business, could see him, unless

silk stockings.
One
of the secretaries
was generally required to introduce to him every

one who aspired to approach his person. Even
the mechanic, who was employed to
him a
sofa or a chest of drawers
The
empted from this ceremony.
make
for
was not ex-
president con-
a condescension incompatible with the
sidered
it
gravity
and dignity of
intimate acquaintance
his office, to ask his
take
to
most
though
and he was greatly
puzzled by the necessity under which he was
himself a perpetual snuffer
sometimes
snuff,
laid, in spite of his
predilection for
aristocratic distinction, of asking a
down."
He
preferred rising
up
man
'-'to
sit
himself, as a
timely admonition to any one admitted to an

which else, the
audience, not to take a chair
;
politeness of
all his
predecessors, and the general
LEGISLATIVE AND EXECUTIVE POWERS.
81
ease and affability of manners in the country,
would have led the person introduced mechanically to do.
The government
for business
offices
are badly organized
and despatch, generally
but a per-
son having court influence, or being known to

the secretaries, especially if intimate with the
governor, finds
all difficulties
smoothed, and or-
dinary obstacles quickly overcome.
To
attempt to define the nature and extent of
the power of the executive in these countries,
would not only be

day you
his
difficult,
own
responsibility,
One
man upon
but impossible.
find the governor shooting a
and the next, applying
to
congress for leave to celebrate high mass, or increase the salary of a clerk in the government
offices.
few days after
this,
he perhaps
dis-
solves the congress altogether.
The
extent of naval and military force at the
disposal of the different governments of South
America
varies, according to a variety of circum-
Peru may keep under arms, in ordinary

Chile may
times, five or six thousand men.
maintain about three or four thousand; and
stances.
Buenos Ayres four or
five.
Paraguay keeps
E3
NAVAL AND MILITARY FORCE.
82
about three thousand; and the east side of the

Oriental, will support a
Banda
river Plate, or
similar number.
The
force of
Mexico
is
about
of Columbia six or
eight thousand men, and
seven.
These troops are partly cavalry, partly
infantry.
There are large trains of
the country, though not
many
artillery in
practised artillery-
They have abundance of arms and ammunition of all kinds: and could, in each of the
men.
provinces, in case
field
of emergency, call into the
a large body of militia and guerilla troops,
chiefly
mounted.
On
occasion of General Rosas' final triumph

over the " Unitario," or central party of Buenos
Ayres, he ordered his mounted force to march
through the town. The procession was seen by

Mr. W. P. R., and persons around him counted
about six thousand as good cavalry as could well
take the field.
It was a motley group as regards uniform
beyond
all
but for men and horses,
doubt, a most
chacareros, to
efficient corps.
it
was,
The
a man, were in this force, and
Rosas had not 500 infantry to co-operate with

his 6000 cavalry.
This disparagement shows
how
greatly the latter, in such a country as the
NAVAL AND MILITARY FORCE.
open Pampas, covered with pasture, and
plain
teeming with
cattle, is superior to
The naval power

is
quite in
gates, in
sels.
83
its
of all the republics mentioned
infancy.
bad
the former.
repair,
Peru has a couple of
and
fri-
five or six smaller ves-
Chile has a corvette and a few schooners.
Buenos Ayres has some merchant-ships armed as

vessels of war, and a small flotilla of schooners
and gun -boats.
Even
these are generally falling
into a state of decay.
The
more
safety of
South America, therefore,
in her distance
lies
from Europe, and in the
absence of any military and naval effort that can

possibly be made against her by Spain, than in
her means of positive resistance.
A first conquest
of the principal towns would be comparatively

easy; but the keeping of such conquest, at the
cost of constant supplies from Europe,
an expensive,
The immense
would be
if not impossible,
undertaking.
extent of uncultivated territory in-
tervening between each town
the facility of sub-
sistence afforded to the natives in the interior,
by means of the cattle which they can drive before

them; and the desultory, marauding system of
warfare, which, without ever
coming
to general
IMPOSSIBILITY OF CONQUERING
84
engagements, they can keep up for years, would

sooner or later tire out the patience, or exhaust
the resources, of any regular and expensive equip-
ment
of force sent against them.
The
country might be desolated, the inhabit-
ants chased into the woods, and plains, and villages
of the interior
but
make
tedious thing to
the country
and not
it
would be a
difficult
and
a permanent conquest of
a thing impossible for Spain to do,
likely to
European power.
be attempted by any other

South America, in a natural,
as well as military point of view, therefore, from
the impotence of her only natural enemy, Old
Spain
from the jealousy with which North Ameany invasion from Europe
rica will naturally view
from the
seem
tacit
consent by which the powers there
have imposed, one upon another, a veto

against aggression and from her own means of
to
defence,
may be
said to be absolutely and irre-
vocably independent of every other country.
What Buenos Ayres wants, and, in common with

every town and province of South America,
next to population, is men of real political integrity, and some moderate knowledge of the busi-
it,
ness of
life,
as conducted in
more
civilized
coun-
SOUTH AMERICA.
and
to give impulse
tries,
affairs.
There
is
also
still
85
direction to
public
wanted among the
South Americans, even were there men of

description
to
direct
them,
this
a patient and in-
creasing tact in the application of this political
knowledge to the circumstances of the country.

There is much ignorance to combat; there are
many
prejudices to undermine
stantly on
the
what
is
jealousy
and ready
alert,
alarm, when any man
to
con-
is
sound the
steps forward in support of
really liberal in principle,
extended in
view, or beneficial to the community at large.
Party spirit, in short, is the bane of the country.

There have been so many pretenders to upright
motives of action, while their undertakings have
been fraught with sordid and

affectation of public
selfish
good has been
avowed and protested
views
the
so often the
object, while the real
one
has been the advancement of private interest by

public spoliation, that we must not wonder at the
distrust of public
men which pervades
the com-
munity, and opposes often an uncompromising

resistance to attempted innovation of even the
most
beneficial kind.
It is well
worthy of remark, with reference to the
ENGLISH IN SOUTH AMERICA.
86
settlement of foreigners in South America, that
during the whole course of revolution, disturbance,

and insecurity, by which the inhabitants themselves
have been agitated, and the fortunes of so many

of them ruined, there has yet been a general
deference shown to the persons and property, not
of British subjects only, but of those of every

other nation.
Englishmen, from a variety of
causes, take, as foreigners, decidedly the lead in
South America.
The
natives
and the blunt manners and honest prinof John Bull have always had charms for
people
ciples
them.
are a frank and warm-hearted
They commingle
as if of one nation.
The
English have never taken any farther part in the

political dissensions of the country than that of
indiscriminately,
affording,
chiefs
and adherents of
sonal danger
has won
and
this
much upon
an asylum to
all sides,
when
in per-
even-handed humanity
the inhabitants
The English have been
the
at large.
longest in the country
numbers preponderate over those of other

and their trade is by far the most
foreigners
extensive and advantageous which the natives
their
enjoy.
ENGLISH IN SOUTH AMERICA.
The
87
British residents are respected generally
for the integrity of their dealings.
They have
extensive mercantile transactions with the Creoles
many Englishmen have married native women;

and being now recognised as the subjects of a
with which treaties of commerce have
nation
been entered
into,
and by which representatives
are kept at the different
they have
all
sary for the
They
seats of government,
the freedom and protection neces-
management
of their
affairs.
are of course liable to be affected
by some
of the unwise, and often arbitrary regulations
bearing upon the inhabitants of the country at

large, in matters of trade and commerce; and
these regulations
are frequently prejudicial to
foreign interests, because framed
upon views of
expediency, upon want of sound principle, or
upon very dubious and short-sighted policy.

But as long experience has now taught
reigners
that these are
evils inseparable
fo-
from
the very nature of the yet unsettled condition,
and
vacillating institutions of a
new country
like
South America as they may readily infer, from the

past, what is likely, for a length of time, to occur in
;
future
those
who form establishments
there, of
88
WHAT FOREIGNERS HAVE
knowledge of both sides

Anomalous and unwise enact-
course do so with a
of the question.
TO EXPECT.
full
ments affecting the whole community, native and

foreign, are, in all parts of the continent, of still
frequent occurrence
that
every year's
but there can be no doubt
free
intercourse
nations will tend to diminish these

abuses, and
to
augment
with other
and other
the permanent benefits
held out by South America to British enterprise.
Yours, &c.
THE AUTHORS.
89
LETTER
G
To J
VI.
ESQ.
NO LONGER INTRODUCTORY.
Retrospective Glance
America
Comparison between North and South

Plan of the Work Capture of Buenos Ayres
Anticipated Results
Consequences of the Capture
barkation for the River Plate

of Montevideo
Capture of the
fidence in the
People
Em-
Bombardment
Symptoms of Con-
Arrival there
Town
Motley Inhabitants
Expectations
excited.
London, 1838.
WE
have given you, in the preceding letters, a

synopsis of the manner in which Spanish Ame-
rica
withdrew
itself
mother- country.
also,
the elements of that long- con tinned political
confusion and
the
from under the yoke of the

have attempted to detect,
We
civil strife
which have hampered
energies, wasted the resources,
and mis-
guided the aims of the natives of South America.

In pointing out the causes which have
impeded their political regeneration, we

have been constrained to trace them to the many
chiefly
COMPARISON BETWEEN
90
feuds fostered for the promotion of the personal
views and ambitious projects of individuals
who
have sought their own aggrandisement at the

expense of the public weal but we have, at the
;
same
time, in justice to the
Americans, shown
that this was not only a natural, but almost a
necessary consequence of the system of corrupt
government and narrow policy, left as an heirloom (if we may use the expression) by the bigoted
mother- country to her oppressed offspring in the
colonies.
Would North America be what she
now
is,
the great family of her United States,
if
outgrowing the control of the parent one,

had unfurled against her the standard of oppoafter
under circumstances similarly disadvantageous to those which beset the South Amerisition
cans?
Certainly not.
still are,
in
There were, and there
Spanish South America, few elements
for the formation of such characters as those of
either a
Washington or a Franklin.
And
if
there were to be found such characters, on what

different national materials,
in regard
to
edu-
knowledge of the arts of life,

enfranchisement, and physical wealth
cation, science,
political
and strength, would they not have
to operate
NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA.

Let those who know South America
whether Washington,
the
able
91
best, decide
and
patriotic
general, or Franklin, the enlightened philoso-
pher, and acute diplomatist, could by possibility
have played their great respective parts on the

stage of a country, which for three hundred
years had been hermetically sealed up by Old
Spain against the whole world which had languished under the corruption of vice-regal authoof monastic inrity, and the pernicious sway
;
fluence; which
had been the
theatre, in short,
of a system of jealousy and espionage, ever on

the alarm lest a dominion of such almost un-
bounded extent should
rise
up
in
arms against
the feeble power of the country that swayed
it.
For our own
part, we consider that the thing

would have been impracticable; and that it is
only
fair to allow, in
extenuation of the unde-
and miscarriages of the South

Americans, that to the ill-starred maxims and
niable obliquities
practice of
government
long languished,
are
under which they so

most of their
traceable
aberrations.
In accordance with the plan which we have
PLAN OF THE WORK.
92
resolved to adopt, of combining
our
personal
history and narrative with the events of which

we have been respectively witnesses, and with
of the scenes in which
many
vidually actors, I
own account
we have been
now proceed
of that which
it
to give
indi-
you
my
pertains to me., per-
sonally to record.
For
must carry you back
this purpose, I
some of the incidents of

proceed, you
tail,
will find
my
them
early
life.
already given.
Paraguay, you
will find
As
these
corroborative, in de-
of the general sketch of South
affairs
As
to
American
regards particularly
them
illustrative of
one
of the most singular revolutions that ever, on a
small scale, and under the
name
of liberty and
independence, was effected in any community.
You
will see
the Dictator Francia blighting the
energies of one of the finest countries in the

world.
You
will see his despotic will
changing,
beneficial laws
abrogating,
or
and you
behold his relentless frown hushing
will
destroying
all
into silence, not on]y the expression of complaint,
but of thought, on the part of his paralysed and

terror-stricken
countrymen.
You
will
see
CAPTURE OF BUENOS AYRES.
93
that
had been
fine,
simple,
confiding people,
comparatively happy under the regime of Old
Spain reduced to wretchedness and imbecility,

under the iron rule of one who has yet the auda"
city to style himself a
patriot."
In order systematically to trace to you the

steps by which I arrived at intimacy with this
singular man,
which
and the precipitate process by

I must
was driven from his presence,
shortly detain
you over a few of
my
adventures
between 1806, when, at the age of fourteen, I

first left this country, and 1812, when I became
personally acquainted with the Dictator.
In 1805-6, news reached England of the expedition to which we have already referred, under
Viscount Beresford, having sailed up the River
Plate, and most valiantly attacked and taken the
town of Buenos Ayres.

The victory, however surprising
as nothing,
from
it
by
in itself,
was
compared with the
results anticipated
The
people were repre-
this country.
sented as not only satisfied with their conquerors,
but as
The
tractable, amiable, lively,
River Plate, discharging
by a mouth nearly 300 miles
and engaging.
itself into
the sea,
wide, and navigable
ANTICIPATED RESULTS.
94
for
2000 miles into the
was
interior of the country,
described as a
mighty inlet to the millions of

Peru and her mines were held
our commerce.
forth to us as
open through
this channel
we
were told that the tropical regions of Paraguay

that thousands
were approachable by ships
upon thousands of cattle were grazing in the
verdant plains and that the price of a bullock
;
was four
shillings, while that of
the sum.
The
natives,, it
was
a horse was half

said,
would give
uncounted gold for our manufactures, while their

warehouses were as well stocked with produce,
as their coffers filled with the precious metals.
The women were
men
all
said to be
handsome, and
all beautiful,
and the
athletic.
Such was the description received here of the

New Arcadia, of which Lord Beresford had
achieved the almost incredible conquest.
British commerce, ever on the
wing
for foreign
lands, soon unfurled the sails of her floating ships

for
South America.
needy, the
The
speculative,
rich,
the poor,
and the ambitious,
the
all
looked to the making or mending of their fortunes in those favoured regions.

Government
was
busy equipping,
for
the
extension
and
EMBARCATION FOR THE RIVER PLATE.

security of the newly-acquired territory,
95
and
for
the protection of her subjects and their property,
command
a second expedition, under the
of Sir
Samuel Auchmuty.
Like other ardent young men, I became anxious
to visit a land described in such glowing colours.
I sailed accordingly from Greenock, in December,
1806, in a fine ship called the Enterprise, com-
manded by Captain Graham.

The monotony of a sea-voyage
is
so well un-
derstood, that I shall pass over mine in very few
words.
Channel
the
Bay
We
:
had the usual winter storms
in the
the ever-paid penalty of a tossing in

of Biscay: sultry weather in crossing
the line, and great rejoicings when, after three
months of pure sea and sky, we got soundings at

the mouth of the River Plate. As we gaily sped
our course in now inland waters, and hoped next
day
to take
we were
alas
up our domicile
hailed
in
Buenos Ay res,
by a British ship of war; and
for the dissipation of the
which we had been dreaming
golden dreams
all
the passage
out!
Captain Graham, having been ordered on board

of the frigate, returned with dismay depicted in
96
ARRIVAL THERE.
his countenance, to tell us
that the Spaniards
had regained possession of Buenos Ayres, and
made
the gallant General Beresford and his
army
prisoners.
Our
captain next informed us, that the second
under Sir Samuel Auchmuty, was

now investing Montevideo, and that, with the
expedition,
exception of the country immediately around the

town, there was no footing for British subjects on
the whole continent of Spanish America.
We
were ordered to proceed to the roadstead of the

besieged
city,
and there
to place ourselves
under
the orders of the English admiral.
Down
at
in the air
swoop tumbled all the castles

which had been built to a fantastic
one
fell
height by the large group of passengers on

board of the Enterprise. Those who had
yes-
terday shaken hands, in mutual congratulation

upon the fortunes they were to make, walked
up
and down the deck to-day under evident
symptoms of despondency and gloom.
We
soon took our
among hundreds
station
off
Montevideo
of ships
similarly situated with
our own.
We
nons' roar,
and within sight of the batteries that
were within hearing of the can-
BOMBARDMENT OF MONTEVIDEO.
97
were pouring their deadly shot and shell into the

houses of the affrighted inhabitants.
Montevideo
is
a town strongly and regularly
In the harbour, busy boats were to be

brigs of war were
fortified.
seen plying from ship to ship
running
close
under the
the citadel from the sea
walls,
;
and bombarding
the guns were levelled
with deadly aim at the part of the fortification

selected for the breach;
and the mortar was dis-
charging, in fatal curve, the destructive bomb.
Thousands of spectators from the ships were
trac-
ing, in breathless anxiety, the impression
made
by every
upon
upon the town, and every
shell
the breach.
The
frequent sorties
ball
made by
the Spanish troops, and repulses invariably sustained by them, gave an animating, but nervous
interest to the scene.
One morning,
at length, before the
dawn of
" imday, that part of the wall, in which was the
minent deadly breach," was enveloped, as seen

from the shipping, in one mighty spread of conThe roaring of cannon was incessant,
flagration.
and the atmosphere was one dense mass of

smoke impregnated with the smell of gunpowder.
We
perceived,
VOL.
i.
by aid of the
night-glass,
and
CAPTURE OF THE TOWN.
93
of the luminous flashes from the guns, that a
the walls.
deadly struggle was going forward on
a
an
awful
Anon there was
deep and sopause,
lemn gloom. The work of carnage was drawing

to a close; and presently the dawn of day exhibited to us the British ensign unfurled, and
simulthe battlements.
proudly floating upon
taneous shout of triumph burst from the whole
fleet;
and thousands who had been yesterday
held in suspense between doubt and
fear,
gave
once more unbounded scope to a sanguine anticipation of the happy and prosperous result of
their enterprise.
We
landed that day, and found our troops in

complete possession of the place. What a spec-
and woe presented itself to

The carnage had been
every step
tacle of desolation
our eyes at
terrible, in proportion to the bravery displayed
by the Spaniards, and to the gallant, irresistible

daring by which their masses were overwhelmed,
and
their
guns silenced by the English.
First, the grenadier
company of the 40th,
act-
ing as the forlorn hope, missed the breach, and

with the exception of Captain Gillies, and a few
men, was completely destroyed by the guns which
CAPTURE OF THE TOWN.

flanked
it.
Then
99
followed the brave Colonel
Vassall at the head of the 38th regiment.
mounted
discovered the breach,
and while waving
men
his sword,
to the top of
and encouraging
to the onset, he was shot to the heart.
awful conflict ensued.
The
He
it,
his
An
breach was barri-
cadoed repeatedly with piles of tallow in skins,
and with bullocks'
hides.
These, as they gave
way, hurled our soldiers with them, and upon
them, into the town, where they were received at

the bayonet's point
by the besieged.
Again, as
fresh columns marched up, without the walls, to

reinforce those that were scaling the breach, or
on the battlements, and as these followed the

party that had
nage on both
rupted.
first
sides
got into the town, the car-
was dreadful, and uninter-
Piles of wounded, of dead and dying,
were to be seen on every hand

turn
we met
litters
the various hospitals
and
at every
conveying the sufferers to
and churches.
You might
here see the wretched sister looking in despair

for her brother,
for her husband.
and there the bereaved widow
Having ascertained
were not among the
living,
that they
they sought to be-
F2
SYMPTOMS OF CONFIDENCE.
100
stow upon them, in decent solemnity, the last

office required on this side of the grave by the
dead.
mere
field of action cannot
have half the
horrors of an action in a town which

assault.
In the
and the family

lation
are
taken by
is
latter case, the conjugal

circle are alike
chamber
exposed to vio-
the nearest relatives, the dearest friends,
severed by the sword of death from each
other, in the presence of each other; while, to
add
to the horror of the scene, lust, pillage, and in-
ebriety hold uncontrollable sway over the flushed
hearts of the victors.
Such
scenes,
though they
could not be wholly repressed, were, in the capture of Montevideo, comparatively few
and
this
mitigation of the general consequences of a town
being taken, after obstinate resistance, by assault,

was owing not less to the admirable discipline of
the British troops, than to the united energy and
philanthropy of Sir Samuel Auchmuty.
In a week or two, the more prominent ravages

of war disappeared, and in a month after the
capture, the inhabitants were getting
as
much
confidence in their invaders, as could possibly be
MOTLEY INHABITANTS.
101
expected in the altered relative position in which
they stood to each other.
This early confidence was mainly attributable

to the mild and equitable government of the
commancler-in-chief.
He
permitted the
stitutions of the country to
civil in-
remain unchanged,
and conducted himself with the greatest
affability
to all classes of the inhabitants.
These began gradually to exchange civilities

with the English; and when I considered not
manner in which they came upon

but
the
of religious creed which
difference
them,
often engenders passions more deadly than those
only the hostile
produced by war itself, it was impossible to withhold from the Spaniards the praise of having
outward decorum, the festering feelings which they must have entertained, of humbled
sacrificed to
pride,
and thwarted hope.
How
all
the foreign troops, merchants, and ad-
venturers of every description got accommodation

in the town, it is not easy to say.
They
located
themselves in every nook and corner of it; so

that it soon had more the appearance of an
English colony than of a Spanish settlement*
EXPECTATIONS EXCITED.
102
The number
of inhabitants, at the time of
capture, was about ten thousand
its
a mixed breed
of the natives of Old Spain, of the offspring of
and of a proportion ably

large mixture of blacks and mulattoes, mostly
these,
called
slaves.
To
sion,
Creoles,
this population there
was an acces-
on the capture of the town, of about six
thousand English subjects, of
whom
four thou-
sand were military, two thousand merchants,

and a dubious crew which
traders, adventurers
;
could scarcely pass muster, even under the latter

designation.
Hundreds of
harbour.
British ships were lying in the
Buenos Ayres was
still'
in possession
of the Spaniards; but confident hopes were entertained that,
when
it
should be heard at
home
that Montevideo was taken, a force would be

sent out sufficient for the capture of the capital
of so magnificent a country.
with what anxiety
we
all
You may
guess
looked forward to such
and with what elated hope we

anticipated that the treasures of the towns, and
the flocks and herds of the plains, were soon to
a consummation
come
into
our possession.
We
expected also
103
EXPECTATIONS EXCITED.
months the countries of
Chile, Peru,
and Paraguay would be thrown open

bounded commerce.
to our un-
that in a few
In
my
next letter I shall speak more at large
of the natives, and especially of a very admirable
part of them,
the women.
I never
saw any
females more graceful or pretty than they are.
One might apply
to almost every
the quotation from Milton

" Grace was in
all
one of them
her steps, heav'n in her eye,
In ev'ry gesture dignity and
love."
Yours, &c.
J. P.
R.
104
LETTER
G
To J
Society of Montevideo
VII.
,
ESQ.
The two
The Rats
Spies
Sir
Samuel
Auchmuty.
London, 1838.
I
HAD now,
at
Montevideo (1807), entered upon
the bustle of active
made myself
During our voyage,
life.
pretty well master of the principles
of the Spanish language
and by hourly
inter-
course with the natives of Montevideo, I soon
acquired tolerable fluency in speaking

this facility increased, I naturally
drew
it.
As
off
from
my own countrymen, th?t I might

commingle more with the Spaniards. Though in
an enemy's country, and a fortified town, under
the society of
martial law withal,
hostility of feeling
between
the natives and the English was so far subsiding,

that some of the principal families of the place
recommenced
I
their tertulias.
was invited to many of these evening parties ;
SOCIETY OF MONTEVIDEO.
105
and found them an entertaining melange of music,

dancing, coffee-drinking, card-playing, laughter,
and conversation.
While the young
waltzing and courting
parties were
in the middle of the room,
the old ones, seated in a row, upon what

the eslrada, were chatting away with
and
vivacity of youth.
The
all
estrada
is
called
the esprit
is
a part of
the floor raised at one end of the room, covered
with fine straw mats in summer, and with rich
and beautiful skins
in winter.
The gentlemen were grouped
in different parts-
of the room, some at cards, some talking, others
joking with the ladies; while the more youthful

part of them were alternately seated by the piano,,
in admiration of the singer, or tripping
it
fantastic toe with very graceful partners.
on the
Every
step,
figure, and pirouette, appeared to me
charming. Every lady that I saw in Montevideo,
waltzed and moved through the intricate, yet
and
elegant mazes of the country dance with grace

inimitable,
because the
and refinement.
result of natural ease
Then they were
so kind
in.
their endeavours to correct the little blunders
in.
Spanish of foreigners, without laughing at them,

by example, at once good feel-
that they taught
F3
SOCIETY OF MONTEVIDEO.
106
-ing,
whatever at the
no ceremony
Having once got an
There
and good manners.

tertulia.
is
invitation to the house ("Seiior
Don
instance, "esta es su casa," "this
is
I could
and leave
visit
and just
as
it
it
Juan," for
your house"),
at all hours of the day,
suited myself.
At
the evening
parties which I have described, persons once in-
came
vited
in with a simple salutation to the
lady of the house, and departed in the same way.
The
opportunity thus afforded of admiring the
personal attractions, the fluency of discourse, and

the ease of
manner of the
to cultivate
females, I did not fail
while I could not but be pleased
with the hospitality which, at the hands of the

other sex, I everywhere experienced.
it
quite surprising,
when
thought
I considered that the
English were their enemies, and recent conMuch of the kindness I received, was
querors.
no doubt traceable to
my
youth, and to the
anxiety I evinced to become acquainted with

their language,
manners and
The
.
and
to assimilate
myself to their
their habits.
parties of which I speak broke
up very
no Spaniard was allowed to be out after

eight o'clock and even Englishmen, after that
early, as
THE RATS.
107
hour, were obliged to give the countersign before
they were permitted to pass the numerous sentinels
posted in the
I found
all
my
streets.
preconceived notions of the
gravity and austerity of the
overthrown.
them,
We
I think,
Spaniards quite
have formed our estimate of
more from legends and romances
of by-gone times, than from a real observation of
present day. There is

of urbanity and kindness in it, with no
their character at the
much
small tincture of humour
agree in thinking that
and I can by no means
it is
in
any way marked
with that gloomy hauteur and inherent reserve
which we have been led to believe are
its dis-
tinctive qualities.
The
only drawback upon the delightful
which I now spent
my
way
in
evenings, was the necessity
home through long narrow streets so

with voracious rats as to make it perilous
of returning
infested
sometimes
to face
them.
There was no
in the town, except that provided
police
by the showers
of rain, which, at intervals, carried off the heaps
of
filth
carrion,
from the
streets.
vegetables, and
Around the
stale fruit,
masses accumulated there, the
offals
of
which in huge
rats absolutely
THE TWO
1C8
mustered in legions.
SPIES.
If I attempted to pass
near those formidable banditti, or to interrupt

their meals or orgies, they
gnashed their teeth

many evening wolves. So far
were they from running in affright to their numerous burrows, that they turned round, set up
upon me
a raven
like so
cry,
and rushed
make my blood run chill.

myself many a hazardous
though sometimes
legs in a
way to
Between them and
at
my
affray occurred
fought
my way
and
straight
home with my stick, at others I was forced to fly

down some cross and narrow path or street,
leaving the rats undisputed masters of the
field.
sad interruption to our tertulias occurred
about this
whom
time.
Two
spies were
taken, on
papers were found, clearly showing that a
conspiracy was hatching, and that
it
was fostered
by the inhabitants of Montevideo, and upheld

by the military of Buenos Ayres.
Its object
was
to retake,
be the havoc and
the waste of blood what they might, Montevideo
from the English.
It
was arranged that a large
body of troops, crossing over in the night from

Buenos Ayres to the opposite town (Colonia),
should march thence upon Montevideo, and be
THE TWO
109
SPIES.
admitted by the conspirators there, at one or

more of the gates. The scheme was frustrated
its
by
early detection
but I believe the best
plans which the Spaniards could have concocted

for the attainment of the object they
had
in view
would have been rendered abortive by the
vigi-
lance of our outposts, as well as by the admirable

regulations of the garrison, and watchfulness of
the
Commander
in Chief.
That the contemplated insurrection was crudely

conceived and clumsily managed, was evident
;
but of the existence of such a conspiracy no doubt

could be entertained.
Many Spaniards were
arrested; a general gloom overspread the inhabitants
and a
had been
distrust of their conquerors,
fast disappearing,
necessary consequence of
which
grew up anew, as a
the conscious delin-
quency and fear of punishment on the part of

the Spaniards.
The Commander
in Chief determined on the
execution of the two spies alone,
taken in flagrante
delictu.
For
who had been

this
purpose a
high gallows was erected in the great square, or

"
" Plaza
The countenance of every
Mayor.
Englishman you passed indicated alarm and
THE TWO
110
suspicion,
SPIES.
and that of every Spaniard
fear
and
In order to give the greater solemnity
dismay.
to the execution, all the troops of the garrison
were marched from their quarters to the appointed spot.
The
other English inhabitants
and such of the

were also crowding thither
Spaniards as were not dismayed by the occur;
rence,
wrapped
were
in their cloaks or capotes,
likewise hastening
to the
The
solemn scene.
windows were crowded with trembling, yet curious female spectators while half a dozen friars,
:
in white habits, with
black or red crosses on
them, and carrying salvers in their hands, paraded the streets, and solicited in a doleful
chaunt an alms to enable them to bury the culprits,
and sing masses
for their souls.
of the numerous churches

for the
The
and convents
dead ; every shop was shut, and
a,
bells
tolled
general
gloom pervaded the town.

from prison, the two
spies were placed on hurdles drawn by asses, and
Brought forth
moved forward
at length
in procession,
accompanied by
and
priests wailing
chaunting, and exhorting the unhappy men. The great square
numerous
was completely lined by the military; yet so
THE TWO
hushed was every

that you could distinguish, from the re-
intense was the anxiety,

noise,
Ill
SPIES.
so
motest corner, at once the articulation of the

ghostly comforters, and the groans of the des-
tined victims.
When all
was ready, they mounted by a ladder
to the platform on which they were to bid fare-
The
well to time.
ropes were adjusted round
the caps were drawn over their eyes,
their necks,
the last loud ejaculation proceeded from the
mouth of the
priest,
dropped from
their
They
officer
died not
Awful
moment,
it
down, but so
to
hands as the signal
move a
common
far
limb.
and restored
for death.
as the
the ceremony at the
scene had been
now became
almost
bewildered,
fatal handkerchiefs
a pardon was in the hands of the
who superintended
scaffold.
that
and the
up
senseless
men were
to
The
truly sublime.
taken
overpowered as to be unable
They were
to their friends
carried on chairs
and
with thousands of their
families.
In
countrymen,
they blessed the English General, and showed

their
gratitude for
his act of well-timed
and
most judicious clemency, by a quiet deference

and respectful submission thenceforward to his
government.
112
SIR
SAMUEL AUCHMUTY.
The gentleman
was M. Godefroy.
sonages
whose house I
at
He
chiefly visited
was one of the
of Montevideo.
first
per-
Himself a native of
France, he had married a Montevideo lady of

great personal attractions, and, surrounded
by
a fine family, his house was one of the most

agreeable in the place.
I
went
usual,
and
to
I
titude to Sir
my
tertulia there that evening, as
found
all hearts expanded with graSamuel Auchmuty for his clemency
towards the unfortunate
spies.
mutual kindness and confidence
feeling of
indeed,, equally
and the conquered,

was engendered by an event which at first seemed
agreeable to the conquerors
calculated to lead to the very opposite results.
Yours, &c.
J. P.
R.
113
LETTER
To J
News
VIII.
,
ESQ.
of General Whitelock's Expedition
He
Whitelock's arrival
sails
picious
March from Ensenada
Army
Whitelock's Defeat.
English
Militia
Buenos Ayres InausPanic of the Buenos Ayres

fur
London, 1838.
ABOUT
my
the time at which the events recorded in
last letter 'took place, official accounts
received from
dition
was
were
England that a formidable expe-
fitting out for the river Plate; that
General Whitelock was to be the commander

of it
month
that its arrival might be looked for in a
and that
up the
river,
it
was immediately to proceed
and take possession of Buenos
Ayres.
When
it
became known
at
Montevideo that
most of the regular force of the garrison would

be required to co-operate in the intended attack
on the
English merchants and subjects of every description were called upon to

capital, the
embody themselves
into a corps of militia.
In
114
ENGLISH MILITIA.
the absence of the greater part of the regular
was to keep guard,

and co-operate with the two battalions of the
troops, the newly-raised corps
which were to be
line
It
was very curious,
the drilling of this

I
left to
made
garrison the place.
quite a sight,
to witness
awkward squad of militia.
a point of being often present when,
under the directions of a dozen

this loyal but mal- adroit
body of
drill-serjeants,
men
essayed to
I could
go through their military evolutions.
not but congratulate myself on having escaped,
on the score of youth, enlistment and exercise

with such a group of recruits.
With
every re-
spect for the character of British merchants
manufacturers, I
was constrained
military honours sat very awkwardly
Here was a
and
to allow that
upon them.
Paisley weaver converted into a
saucy serjeant, and there a Glasgow manufacturer manufactured into a full-grown lieutenant.
The merchant was
generally
made a
captain,
while his head clerk strutted forth a corporal
under him.
Many and
vaded
this
great were the jealousies which percorps
iVarmee.
The independent
tradesman thought he had a better right to be
ENGLISH MILITIA.
115
a serjeant, than an understrapper of a clerk but

the clerk wrote the better hand, and could keep
;
the accounts of
company, wherefore
his
tradesman was generally nonsuited.
the
Many were
the instances of bitter enmity engendered be-
cause one
man was made
a captain, while ano-
ther, thinking he had equal or superior claims,
was,
by some
to serve
capricious partiality, constrained
under him with a halberd.
The regiment was commanded by Colonel

Tyrrell, collector of the customs, who united thus
in his own person, what people said was incompatible with the principles of our
free consti-
tution, viz., the control at once of the
of the purse.
army and
In the ardour of his attention to
the discipline of his corps, Colonel Tyrrell
fell
under great obloquy and suspicion, from the loss,

somehow, of the custom-house books. The uniform of the militia body was a red jacket, blue
trousers and facings, and a tupee cap.
I could
not but feel amused as
with which the same
contrasted the dexterity
man handled
a yard during
one part of the day, and the awkwardness with

which he " shouldered arms " at another. The
first
merchants -seemed quite at home as they
WHITELOCK'S ARRIVAL.
116
sold a
box of
calicoes,
but quite at sea when,
under the prop of a leathern stock, the military

honours of the epaulette, the gorget, and the
sword, they abandoned their warehouses to figure
You
at parade.
could recognise the difference
of caste and contour between them and the

cers of the line at the distance of
At
offi-
cannon range.
length, Whitelock arrived, with a gorgeous
suite of aides-de-camp, adjutants, commissaries,
and other
officers
Sir
of a military cortege.
Samuel Auchmuty was not only superseded
in
command, but eclipsed in his establishment

by the now absolute General. He brought
with him eight thousand men, the flower of the
his
British army, conveyed in a large fleet of trans-
by noble ships of war.
ports, protected
He
esta-
blished a magnificent military court at the govern-
ment-house, and magniloquently declared that
he would instantly proceed against Buenos Ayres,

and either take or level it with the ground, within
a month from the time of his departure from
Montevideo.
We
might be taken
should gain by
hoped that the capital

we could not see what we
all
for
its
being destroyed.
Whitelock ordered three thousand
men
of the
WHITELOCK
Montevideo
garrison
to
SAILS.
117
follow him.
Colonel
command
Brown
of the 40th regiment was
there
and the merchants were told once more
left in
month they should be at liberty to

Buenos Ayres. The new General had
that within a
proceed to
the reputation of being a haughty and reserved
man
but
it
was hoped, notwithstanding, that he
would prove himself equal to the fulfilment of the

high duties to which he had been appointed by
the
Duke
of York.
Shortly afterwards, General Whitelock sailed,
with an army of which any commander might well
have been proud, and with a fleet in every way

To the eight
well provisioned and equipped.
thousand
men
lately arrived, there
were added
three thousand of the veteran troops which
taken Montevideo.
Sir
had
Samuel Auchmuty, Co-
lonel Pack, General Gower, General Crawford,
and many other brave and distinguished officers,

were under General Whitelock's command and
;
as the place
had been taken not many months
before by General Beresford, with fifteen hun-
dred men, there was not a shadow of doubt entertained of
its
at once surrendering to
General
Whitelock at the head of eleven thousand.
WHITELOCK
118
SAILS.
You may conceive with what exhilarated spirits,

and elated hopes, everybody began to pack up
for Buenos Ayres. The ships all bent their sails
;
the merchants
tevideo
and
all
gave up
their premises in
this town, like
inhabitants are quitting
it,
Mon-
a house when the
had already quite a

For myself,
comfortless and deserted appearance.
however, I scarcely knew whether to rejoice at
intended departure, or bewail
my
I
was getting so
froy's,
entirely at
it.
home
at
M. Gode-
that I began to fear I might " go far-
ther and fare worse."
I conned over the old
and homely proverb, that
" a bird in the
hand
which the Spaniards render, by-the-bye, more poetically than

we do, by " Mas vale pajaro en mano, que buytre
is
worth two in the bush;"
volando
:"
" better a
little
bird in the hand, than
a vulture on the wing."

Shortly after the sailing of the expedition, a
brig of war arrived from the scene of action, and
brought intelligence of a landing having been

This
effected by the British army at Ensenada.
place
is
distant from
six miles
and from
Buenos Ayres about
thirty-
(Ensenada) the formidable

force of General Whitelock immediately began
;
it
MARCH FROM ENSENADA.

march.
its
The landing
119
at such a spot struck
everybody, acquainted with the locale, as rather
an inauspicious commencement
Military
men
of
operations.
said that, in the first place, there
was no necessity for it; and that a landing

might have been effected as well within five
miles, as fifty of
Buenos Ayres, seeing there was
no regular force that could have opposed such

landing, with any hope or chance of success.
In the second place, Ensenada being situated

in low, marshy ground, there were interposed
between
lakes.
to
and Buenos Ayres immense bogs and

Through these the army had inevitably
march
it
in order to reach the capital.
Lastly, no communication could be kept up,
on
this line of
forces
march, between the naval and land
so that the
army had
in addition to its heavy
to
encumber
baggage and
itself,
artillery
train, with the immense load of provisions neces-
sary for the subsistence of eleven thousand
men
during a march of six or eight days.
At
and
length the expected despatches arrived
I could scarcely credit the account
eyes saw, and the ears heard, and that
which the
now my pen
MARCH FROM ENSENADA.
120
has to record, of the total defeat of General White-
Onward
lock's expedition.
ill-fated
Ensenada.
marched from the
Lakes, marshes, hunger,
thirst, weariness, cold,
jected the gallant
it
and
fatigue, while they sub-
army of an infatuated chief
to
almost every privation which the human frame

could endure, opposed no effectual barrier against
the order to advance. For hours together were the
men up to their middle
in water
were both wet and scanty
their provisions
their
heavy artillery
was often swamped in the marshes the cold was
intense; shelter there was none; an ill- arranged
;
commissariat
left
the
men with an
insufficient sup-
ply of wine and spirits to minister alleviation to

their unprecedented fatigue; the horses on the
route of march were driven away
not an inhabitant was to be found
and
there, at intervals of five
the cattle too
and only here
and
six miles, a
wretched hut, abandoned by its yet more wretched

Still the British army,
owners, was to be seen.
led on
well be
and encouraged by
classed as
hied onward
and
officers
who might
the bravest of the brave,
in a few days
it
arrived within
four miles of the destined scene of

operations.
PANIC OF THE BUENOS AYRES ARMY.
At
l'2l
time the regular troops and militia of
this
Buenos Ayres marched
out, in the direction of
a small river called the Riachuelo, which they

crossed at a bridge called the Puente de Baracas,
that
is,
the Bridge of Hide-warehouses.
No sooner,
however, did those
men
see the bri-
gades and columns of the British army, and the

train of its artillery moving towards them in
dense and unbroken masses, than they scampered
off in precipitate flight, not only to the town, but
through the town, leaving
rally
defenceless.
Had
it
for a
whole day
the English
lite-
general
he would have taken Buenos Ayres

without firing a gun or losing a man.
marched
on,
complete panic seemed to have seized the
Spanish troops at sight of our red-coats and all

the efforts of their brave commander, the Viceroy
Liniers, were ineffectual to regulate their retreat,
;
more properly speaking, to stay their flight.

But General Whitelock did not march on he
or,
made an ominous, a most

ruinous halt
and
his subsequent
is
unintelligible,
and
to this halt, not less than to
mode
of attack
upon the town,
be attributed the defeat of his brave army;

VOL. I.
G
to
WHITE LOCK'S DEFEAT.
122
the loss of nearly three thousand of the most

of Buenos
intrepid of his men; the abandonment
Montevideo
Ayres the restitution to Spain of
to
and such disgrace
gallant soldiers, as could
;
a general
only have been brought upon them by
the most inert, self-willed, capricious,
and com-
bining, withal, the apparently opposite qualities
of rashness and cowardice,
that ever took the
field.
When
Colonel Brown communicated to the
English residents at Montevideo the disastrous

results of General Whitelock's short campaign,
a tear stood in his manly eye ; and when he in-
formed us that the capitulation by which the

English army was to be "permitted" to evacuate
Buenos Ayres, contained
also a clause for the
abandonment, within two months, of Montevideo,

the soldier could proceed no farther.
in the greatest agitation, the
had been compelled

defeat
to
room
He
quitted,
in which
announce at once the
and humiliation of the brave army of
which he was himself one of the brightest

naments.
In
he
my
next
letter,
you
shall
or-
have a few of the
WHITELOCK'S DEFEAT.
details
by which
this
123
most unlooked-for
catas-
trophe was brought upon us; and which, as a

necessary result, sent us all to that point which
our countrymen,, when once they have

so generally dislike,
left
home,
" back
again."
Yours, &c.
J. P.
R.
124
LETTER
IX.
To J
ESQ.
Causes of the defeat at Buenos Ayres
The
Capitulation
Departure of the English

Transition from Land to Sea Reflec-
General Whitelock's callousness
from the Country

tions,
London, 1838.
GENERAL WHITELOCK,
then,
halt at a distance of little
from Buenos Ayres.

to
people
them, but
army
made
his ill-fated
more than three miles
This not only induced the
think that he was afraid to attack

it
afforded time to the panic-stricken
of General Liniers to rally, and return to
the town.
They
cut fosses across the different streets by
which they anticipated the British troops would

and the houses, being flat-roofed, low,
enter
;
and having a parapet-wall
built all
served the Spaniards as so
many
round them,
batteries from
CAUSES OF THE DEFEAT.
125
which, in comparative safety, they could
down
fire
the dense columns of their enemies, as they
upon
marched through the narrow
of these houses,
castles,
or, as
they
were lined with
The
streets.
may
roofs
rather be called,
soldiers, militia, volun-
teers, private citizens, servants,
and
slaves.
Every man that could handle and fire a musket

was obliged to take part in the defence of the
There were no military evolutions required; no discipline was necessary beyond that
town.
which each master of a family could easily command from his own household. These simple
preparations made, the
now
enthusiastic inhabitants
resolute
and almost
and military awaited the
approach of the enemy.

There were three modes in which Buenos Ayres
might have been taken, and, according to the
opinion of
taken,
all
military
men, must have been
had any one of them been adopted.
First, the town might have been regularly infor there

vested, and starved into a capitulation
;
were not provisions
for
more than
six
weeks
Secondly,
might have been bombarded from two points, the Alto and the Retiro
within
it.
it
126
CAUSES OF THE DEFEAT.
(or bull-ring), which
command
the whole town.
Thirdly, the town might have been taken
by
regular storm, had the troops been ordered to
the house-tops, as they advanced, of the
clear
masses there collected to
There was one plan
resist
also,
them.
by the adoption of
which the army might be at once massacred and

defeated; and that was the plan on which it
pleased the infatuated Whitelock to
Buenos Ayres
is
fix.
a very large town, of which
the streets intersect each other at right angles,
some of them being more than three miles long,

in a straight line.
The
British general ordered his columns to
advance along those streets, to given points of

junction and rendezvous, and without firing a
shot at the people on the house-tops, or else-
where.
The
flints
were in some cases taken out
of the soldiers' muskets.
You need
brave
hardly be told what followed.
troops,
disciplined
to strict
The
obedience,
marched along those pathways of death, without
offering
the
slightest
resistance.
Their
ranks were thinned by the sharpshooters from
THE CAPITULATION.
127
the azoteas, or house-tops, with such fatal rapidity, that not only
step
they
took,
were the
strewed
streets, at
with
every
the slain
and
wounded, but when they had, in some instances,

attained, and in others nearly so, their appointed
places of rendezvous, they were so reduced,
by the incessant
house-tops,
as
to
firing
them from the
upon
be obliged to take shelter

Still, Ge-
in the nearest churches or convents.
had a corps of reserve of five

thousand men, who had not yet come into action;
and with them he might, even at the eleventh
neral Whitelock
hour, have achieved the
work of conquest. But

and con-
panic- struck by the death, desolation,
which his own wretched plan of operations had inevitably led, he lost all self-posses-
fusion, to
sion,
energy, and courage.
He
most disgracefully capitulated,
capitulated,
on condition of
being allowed to retire with his yet but halfvanquished army; and he agreed not only to
abandon
all
farther attack
to sail, within
on Buenos
Ay res,
two months, with his whole
but
force,
from the River Plate.

"
Put
in,"
said Alzaga, the Alcalde de primer
THE GENERAL'S CALLOUSNESS.
128
voto (or mayor),
who was
up of the terms of
shall
a party to the drawing

"
evacuate Montevideo/
also
the viceroy, Liniers, " that

it
it
in,
that he
"Oh,"
said
out of the question

would spoil the whole matter." " Let us put
down"
citizen
It
put
capitulation,
it
is
replied the resolute
and
can be easily taken out,
was put down, and
if
influential
objected
to.
was not objected to.

The bewildered General Whitelock conceded
all:
and
in a few
we beheld,
it
days afterwards, to our dismay,
in Montevideo, the
ships of war, which, one
little
transports
month
before,
and
had
conveyed our noble army to anticipated triumph,

returning with that army defeated, and
its
gene-
ral irretrievably disgraced.
The
hospitals were
once more
sick,
wounded, and
filled
with the
dying; three thousand gallant fellows had attested by their death, their dauntless courage in
the streets of Buenos Ayres;
Whitelock,
and yet General
although himself the sole cause of
the unpardonable catastrophe, strutted on the

azotea of the government-house, or rode through
the streets of Montevideo, the only unconcerned
individual, to all appearance, in the midst of the
DEPARTURE FROM THE COUNTRY.
129
shame and disgrace which he had brought upon

the arms of Great Britain.
To have
moment when
seen him at the
garrison was about to be delivered
up
to
General
you might have supposed him, from
Elio,
the
his air,
a Wellington, or a Wolfe. It was impossible,

from any outward demonstration, to fancy him a
man
conscious of the appalling and needless loss
which his dogged stupidity had entailed

upon his brave companions in arms, or of the discomfiture which his utter incapacity had brought
of
life
upon an army which, under better management,

might have conquered and kept one half of the
New World.
us quit a
soil
With
the utmost unconcern he saw
which, but
might have been
for his folly
and madness,
ours, for generations yet un-
born.
What
was greatly to be admired, in this terrible reverse, was the unassuming deportment,
indeed the increased deference, of the Spaniards
towards the English.
They never
the subject of Whitelock's
defeat;
they spoke of our departure,
it
alluded to
and when
was ever with
an expression of regret, that they were about

to lose many personal friends.
Such conduct
G3
130
I
could not but think very demonstrative of
courtesy,
and good
and almost magna-
feeling,
nimous in a people now triumphant over their

recent invaders.
I lingered in the
and
then, with
like that of
the last moment,
till
a heavy heart, bade adieu to
M. Godefroy and
more
town
The
his family.
parting was
a son from father and mother,
and of a brother from
sisters,
than of a foreigner
and an enemy, from people whose acquaintance

he had not enjoyed above five months.
I
had the
mortification, too, to see the Spanish
colours flying on the citadel, and at the govern-
ment-house.
Elio and his
staff"
ceived the keys of that place
had already
re-
the last English
stragglers were hurrying to their boats ; and in

a few days the whole fleet,
consisting of two
hundred and
Plate.
The
fifty ships,
disastrous
sailed out of the River
manner
in which
we were
thus driven from the

country was, as you may
the
more
conceive,
readily
keenly felt, that such
a result was not only

unexpected, but the very
reverse of what even the least
sanguine calculation could
have anticipated.
Whoever has passed from
a state of excitement
131
on shore, to one of monotony on board of ship

from the vivifying exercise of the social affec;
companionship with a few listless passengers, in a dingy cabin, must have felt the tran-
tions, to
be anything but agreeable. To see

the uphill work it sometimes is for men to get
sition
to
through the day
empty
Here
shall
be one
firing at
bottles, there another yawning away the
long forenoon
now, some one
is
playing off a
tiresome practical joke upon two more
who
prosing over repeated doses of grog.
All are
doing their best to kill time, and every one

failing in the arduous attempt.
sit
is
For myself, I mixed little with the passengers

my mind reverted contantly to the friends I had
:
left
at Montevideo,
that I
had been
and
I could scarcely believe
in an enemy's country.
Often,
indeed, as the vessel sped, at night, her smooth,
but rapid course over the deep, leaving the brilliant glow of her track, outspread behind her, like
the burnished tail of a comet, I was moved even
to sadness
by the
reflection that I
might never
again see persons who had rendered themselves

to
me
so deservedly dear.
TRANSITION FROM SHORE TO
132
Then
which
I looked
SE*A.
fleet
of ships by
was surrounded; I saw that
fleet carry-
upon the large
ing home a defeated and disheartened army I

saw hundreds of merchants and speculators,
;
returning to England, either impoverished or

ruined, from
fields
whence they had hoped to
gather very golden harvests
and, coming nearer

home, I found rny own prospects, which I had
thought a few brief weeks before so brilliant, now
clouded, and obscured.
The change
of circum-
stances was in every view a disheartening one.
Yet, in alleviation of these more sombre musings, it
was cheering to
reflect that
whatever
may
be the causes of quarrel, and whatsoever the ravages of war, between nation and nation, they
cannot stop that current of the milk of human
kindness which circulates, in greater or less
abundance, in the breast of every individual of

the family of man. Endued with the same nature, created with the
same
propensities, influ-
enced by like motives, and animated by like

passions,
man
everywhere recognises
general principles of humanity are

in
all
the
man
the
developed
various circumstances in which
he
133
REFLECTIONS.
is
placed; and in
all
the different climes which
he inhabits, under every modification of national

still
character,
a feeling
common
to
humanity
prevails.
So to me, a protestant, the right hand of fellowship had been held out by the catholic one
;
of a nation of invaders, I was individually cherished as a friend by those invaded ; far distant
from
my own
family, I
video into the bosom of
was received
many
Monte-
at
families to
whom,
a few months before, I had been totally unknown

while
my
youth and inexperience, which,

might have exposed me
another country,
worldly
artifice
and
trickery,
were there
passports to pleasing society.

chief claim to hospitality
I
my
in
to
best
They were my
and kindness.
was truly glad when we sailed into Kirisale
harbour,
weeks
after
a tedious
passage of fourteen
we had been on short
during four of which
allowance of provisions and water.
That nothing might be wanting
to complete
the mistakes of the disastrous River Plate expedition, the transports had taken in their water
too near the
mouth
of the river; so that
it
was
REFLECTIONS.
134
brackish and putrid, long before the fleet reached
Ireland
and the use of
it
had caused the death,
from dysentery, of many of the troops.

Yours, &c.
J. P. R.
135
LETTEK
To J
the
Entrance to Rio de Janeiro
Custom-House
liteness
X.
,
Town
Streets, &c., of
ESQ.
of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
the
Negro Po-
Alfayetes, or Tailors.
Jewellers
London, 1838.
AFTER a
sojourn at
home
of only a few months,
more turned my thoughts to South Amean intercourse having been opened up with
I once
rica,
Brazil, in consequence of the emigration of the
royal family of Portugal to Rio de Janeiro

I sailed in the
after a
Ajax
and
for that capital, at which,
passage of eight weeks, I arrived on the
8th of October, 1808.
purpose to give you a succinct account of

what I there saw and heard; but I must take
I
you first, for a short sail, out to the entrance

of Rio de Janeiro bay, and detain you a few
moments while
channel,
to
my
introduce you,
first
through
this
view of the surrounding
ENTRANCE TO RIO DE JANEIRO.
136
and of a
scenery,
now, the seat of
city then, as
royalty.
When we
first
the chart that
we knew from
got soundings,
we must be
at the
mouth
of the
but we had not yet

seen land. The ship lay for two days motiondense fog was outless upon a sea like glass.
spread upon the water, and shut up our view
entrance to the harbour
The
within a very narrow space.
air
was so
be scarcely supportable, and the act

of breathing was difficult, almost to suffocation.
sultry as to
board panted, and sought

in vain a breath of air to relieve it from the
Every
living thing on
intolerable weight of the heated atmosphere.
Towards the afternoon a gentle breeze came
The
rippling along the surface of the water.

air
gan
grew comparatively
to
move
faded away ; in others
it
rose in a dense mass
from the bosom of the sea
expand
and the vessel be-
cool,
the mist, in some places, gently
and we saw what looked
a short distance of us.

clearing away,
The
like
land within
and the breeze freshening,
and separated,
as
still
fog kept
length the whole firmament of mist broke

large clouds,
up
our view began to
it
till
up
at
into
were, not the
137
" waters from the

waters," but mountains, headlands, islands, from each other, leaving
stand out in
all their tropical richness,
their varied magnificence of altitude
We were
in the midst of islands.
them
and
to
in all
and shape.
Forth from a
lingering body of mist, in the distance, sailed a

majestic
flying;
ship of war with the English ensign
and another moment discovered
fort in the
midst of the
royal standard unfurled.
sea,
to us
with the Portuguese
Vessels which had been
same predicament with our own started

up around us ; and whereas we seemed at first
to be the only ship bound for Rio de Janeiro, we
in the
were now sailing into that place with a little fleet.

Anything so like magic can scarcely be con-
seemed as
we had emerged
in one
ceived.
It
instant,
without either expectation or volition,
if
from chaos into a world clothed with richness
and beauty altogether marvellous.
From being
the solitary inmates of a confined ship, we
felt
as if transformed into colonists of a fairy-land
already peopled and prepared for us.
came
actors in the living
before us.
We
and busy scene
As we approached
the bay,
be-
now
and
38
had a moment's
back upon the
leisure to look
splendid entrance through which
we saw behind us a gorgeous
we had
sailed,
succession
of
richly-wooded mountain scenery, with one conspicuous cone towering high above its fellows,
and
from the singular accuracy of
called,
conic form, "
The
Sugar-loaf."
its
Before us lay
outspread the large city of Rio de Janeiro, with

its
houses
all
whitewashed,
and conspicuously
contrasting with the deep shades of tropical ver-
Then
dure around.
fleet
there was an innumerable
of ships at anchor in the bay, and this was
large enough to contain, and sheltered enough

to protect, the
navy
of the whole world.
the circular and sweeping beach
hand
beautiful
whitewashed
Along
we saw on every
villages,
mansions, or small groups of cottages.

lay
embosomed
tation
its
isolated
They
in a profusion of luxuriant vege-
the sea laved the white sandy beach with
constant succession of breaking waves; and
the scene altogether was one of such grandeur,

beauty, variety, and animation, as quite to forbid
the hope of conveying a just idea of

scription.
it
by de-
139
beauty and deformity, are

laws of nature too universally associated to admit
But good and
evil,
of a hope of our ever finding
We
had
just been
them dissevered.
observing and admiring
most beautiful forms and gayest

We had seen her handprofusion of attire.
Art
and
Civilization, taking up their
maidens,
Nature
abode
in her
in
her loveliest haunts ; and, by means of
the outstretched
city,
the cheerful village, the
goodly mansion, and the lowly cottage, adding

to her beauty, filling up and completing the landscape which burst upon our view.
ever,
we saw
in perspective.
All
this,
how-
When we came
to
a closer inspection of the component parts of the

scene, the aspect which nature
the same
had worn remained
but that which art had assumed was
changed indeed.
Of course our
feelings,
on proceeding
to land,
after the distant contemplation of the beauties
by
which we were surrounded, were wrought up to a

high pitch of interest, and we indulged in exaggerated anticipations of what we were to see on
shore.
We
expected something of the fairy-like
enchantment of feeling which had come over us

as we sailed into the bay, would be preserved.
THE TOWN OF RIO DE JANEIRO.
140
But who
first
shall describe our disappointment
The
scene that presented itself to our view was a
row of
with nearly naked blacks in
filthy canoes,
them, waiting to paddle people
Then
off to
the shipping.
there were numbers of huge, uncouth mar-
ket-boats, covered with thatch, so as to constitute
These were
sorts of floating houses.
filled
with
blacks and mulattoes, male and female, in the
most scanty and filthy habiliments. The fruit,

much of it, was stale, and sending forth a very
The
noxious smell.
heat was altogether suffocat-
ing, for the sea-breeze
had now died away.
beach was covered with the
offal of
a huge
The
city,
in
no police, and where everything eatable turns to immediate putrefaction.

This offal, with endless quantities of fish and ve-
which there
is
literally
getables which
had become putrid before they
was alternately
laved up upon the beach, and drawn back again
could be sold in the market,
to the sea
by the receding surge. The whole of

harbour was made by filth, as the
this part of the
sea by Leviathan, " like a pot of ointment." One

would have pronounced " the deep to be hoary."
Clumsy wooden
piles,
jutted a
piers,
little
supported by huge wooden
way
into the water, which,
THE CUSTOM-HOUSE.
with
all its
literally
scum, dashed in
seemed
As we
141
among them, and
to boil.
we were
by a smell of
fried sardinhas (a sort of small herring) and of
pork, from innumerable little stalls, kept by men
and women of every colour under the sun. We
landed,
assailed
proceeded into the town ; and what objects presented themselves to us there
First, there was
!
the custom-house, which surpassed

tions I
all
Hundreds of
had ever formed of Babel.
people were crowding into
it,
the concep-
and out of
it,
and
every one of them obstructing the way of the

There was your man in office, dressed
other.
formally in a court suit of black, and his dozen
clerks, in
one corner.
They were
beset by
applicants, bawling out in Dutch, German,

lish,
and French,
There was a room
for their respective
fifty
Eng-
documents.
in which innumerable packages
and where
of British manufactures were opened,
each piece of goods had affixed to
it,
by means
of pending threads, a stamp upon molten lead.
The
operations of a
glass-house,
during the
heat of summer in England, are cool and refreshing, as
compared with the glow of
fire,
and
142
THE CUSTOM-HOUSE.
the process of fusing lead in this tropical pan-
demonium.
From
it
we passed
to the place
negroes were landing goods from

barges.
Each
fifty
misshapen
troop of blacks, as they hoisted
out the goods, were singing their
war-song;
where brawny
own
peculiar
while the perspiration poured
down
the grooves of their backs in torrents as they
were thus engaged.

Passing, at
last,
from the piers to the yard

finally taken away,
from which merchandise was
there were pipes of wine slung
by thick cords
to a long pole,
which was laid on the shoulders
of six nearly
naked negroes.
off
These marched
with their swinging load, and sang, in loud
and marvellous dissonance,
to the unequal but

motion of their burthen, as they carried it
over streets, in which every huge stone stood
elastic
up,
and
left a
yawning gulf between
it
and
its
next neighbour. These blacks were followed by

a constant succession of laborious
groups, all carrying their respective burthens in the same way.
Now and then low-wheeled hurdles were introduced,
upon which
to
bear off the unwieldy
STREETS, ETC., OF RIO DE JANEIRO.

bales
and discordant songs and
yells
143
accompa-
nied each individual process.
The merchandise
of Tyre could not have been
more cumbrous and varied than that of Rio de

Janeiro.
The hubbub and
the fatigue of every-
thing connected with the custom-house,
me
made
hasten away from a place so unbearable, at
once from
its
confusion, effluvia, heat,
and deaf-
wondered how any organization of

ening
human senses and susceptibilities could be found
I
din.
equal to the work going on within this monstrous Babel.

I
now threaded my way through
streets so
was with the greatest difficulty

one carriage could pass another in them. The
houses were from two to four stories high. Not a
narrow, that
it
pane of glass was to be seen in any one of them.

Instead of this, the openings in the house for
and
were shrouded by balustrades of

latticed wood-work.
light
air,
From under
these
the inhabitants,
chiefly
females, raising the jalousies, or lowering them
down
at pleasure,
peeped out upon passengers,
without in return being seen by them.
town looked
like a large
The whole
darkened convent.
The
144
STREETS, ETC., OF RIO DE JANEIRO.
men you met were all of a swarthy, and unhealthy

complexion: women you saw none, except muand negresses. Every here and there
two athletic blacks were to be observed carrying a
lattoes
large palanquin, the female inmate of which was
sacredly guarded from public gaze
by the close and
richly- embroidered folds of a scarlet or blue cloth.
From between
the openings of these folds, as
from under her lattice-worked window, the lady

thus carried could also look out upon passengers,
without being perceived by them.
The few
car-
drawn by two mules. The poswere accoutred in an awkwardly-cut but
riages I saw were

tilions
full-dress
of which the colour was
livery-coat,
generally sky-blue, or tawny-orange, with deep
and gaudy
facings.
An
boots that reached to

their costume.
The
exactly like those
we
opera cocked-hat, and

the
thighs,
completed
carriages themselves looked

still
see in this country
made
of gilt gingerbread.
The number
of persons I met in full-dress,
black coats, black satin breeches, silk stockings,
gold knee and shoe-buckles, opera-hats,
gold-
headed canes, and ponderous gold seals, led me

to think there must be a great many dinner-par-
NEGRO POLITENESS.
ties
going forward.
went
into a shop to
A little
attired.
was mistaken
for as
buy a pair of gloves, the
who served me was
man-milliner
145
farther
on
precisely thus
saw a whole group
of men, in similar costume, sitting at a shop- door,
smoking cigars and drinking lemonade.

This seemed odd but what was my
;
surprise,
two negroes meet each

dressed in tattered and ragged coats,
as I proceeded, to see
other,
waistcoats,
knee-breeches,
without shoes or stockings
and opera-hats, but

They stood bow!
ing the one to the other, hat in hand, and in

polite contention as to which should be covered
first.
They
at length
seemed
to agree that they
should return their hats to their heads simultaneously, so that one should not have precedence
of the other.
snuff-box was then pulled by
each from his respective girdle
with half-a-
dozen bows, a pinch of snuff was exchanged and

very ceremonious inquiries were mutually made
;
about their respective senhoras, or ladies.
The hats
were again taken off and lowered to the ground

and after an amicable struggle as to which should
;
take the wall, these curious specimens of BraziVOL.
I.
ALFAYETES, OR TAILORS.
146
lian
politeness
and
etiquette
walked on their
several ways.
I
now passed down a
street called "
Rua
dos
Plateiros," or Silversmiths' Street, where, in little
dark and miserable shops, I saw trinkets of massive gold, pearls, diamonds, and every kind of
of the richest description.
precious stone
Gold
buckles of every size and shape formed a conrich display before me.
spicuous part of the
From this street I passed into the " Rua dos
Alfayetes,"
or
Tailors'
Street
and
to
have
judged by the rows of benches filled with men

working on the pavement in front of every door,
as well as
by the number of blacks and mulattoes
busy with their needles, I might have supposed the whole population of the town to be
all
The
occupied in this one trade.

fayete," or
my Lord
Tailor, as
very important personage

for this people can
unless
it
Having taken
I returned
among
is called, is
the Brazilians
a
;
form no conception of dignity
be dressed up in
an old-fashioned
he
" Senhor Al-
all
the extravagance of
finery.
this superficial
on board of ship
view of the town,
for the evening, with.
RETURN ON BOARD.
a thousand images of
men and manners
of things so incongruous,
undefined buzzing
little
147
in
my
so strange,
and of anticipations
so
head, as to leave
me
prospect of repose for that night.
My
fur-
ther observations on the strange set of beings
among whom
next
now
was, you shall have in
my
letter.
Yours, &c.
J. P.
H2
R.
148
LETTER XL
G
To J
Inhabitants of Rio de Janeiro
ESQ.
Difference between Spaniards
and Portuguese Portuguese Society

page Anecdote of King John.
King John's Equi-
London, 1838.
YOUR
Continental tourist sees only slight modi-
fications of
American
men and manners
traveller sees
but your South
them developed with a
contrast so broad, set forth in points of view so
which they had before been

exhibited to him, that he cannot well pass them
different
from any
in
over without edification and remark.
At Rio de
in
some of
many
Janeiro I contemplated despotism
its
worst forms
of its debasing effects
unrestrained vice in
and appalling slavery
under some of its most odious aspects.

1 saw a king with
pompous ministers, ruling
I
saw
men
enervated by climate,
by caprice
;
and relaxed by vicious indulgence, till
their frames
INHABITANTS OF RIO DE JANEIRO.
had become wasted, and

temptible
and
149
their characters con-
followed the wretched slave, sold
to the highest bidder in the market-place,
till
found him in the house of his master, broken in
by the incisions of the whip to the trade he would

have him to learn, and to the abject obedience
he would have him to
yield.
I considered that all these

fications of the
stances, of that
were only exempli-
character, modified by circum-
most anomalous of
human
in his civilized state, the
monsters
monster.
I heard the flogging of the slave,

failed
all
and
my heart
me, and sickened on listening to the un-
heeded appeal of his piteous cries for mercy I

saw him next day, perhaps, toiling and sweating
under a tropical sun, to furnish the required sum
;
of gain for the heartless master
was with indignant reluctance, yet upon the most irresistible

evidence, that I was constrained to confess my-
before bastinadoed
self
him
and
who had the day
it
one of the same family at once of master and
of man.
The
Spaniards and Portuguese, though
ginally one people, are
imaginable.
Not
now the most
ori-
different
only are their habits different,
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
150
but there
which
is
is
an acerbity of feeling between them
not, I think, displayed
by either
We
intercourse with other nations.
the
most
One
bitter.
nation
another, and yet hope
eventual re-
as one individual
conciliation, just
time, be on bad terms with the
war
to
may go
for
know
are always
that civil feuds, like family broils,
with
in their
all
for
may,
man who
subse-
quently becomes his best friend: but a kingdom

split into two, like
a house divided against
itself,
cannot stand but in a state of perpetual animosity
and
strife.
The
strong national antipathy which the Spa-
niards and Portuguese have to each other,
more remarkable, when you consider that
is
the
religion
has nothing to do with the quarrel.
Both nations
profess the catholic creed;
but
as nations, they both set at unequivocal defiance
the catholic
unity, which is the
To
of living " in the spirit of
command
bond of peace."
so great a pitch
is
this national feeling of
antipathy carried, that the very language of Spain,

though so similar to that of Portugal, is viewed
with dislike by the Portuguese, as the corruption

of the pure Castilian
is
held in contempt by the
SPANIARDS AND PORTUGUESE.

Spaniards.
I endeavoured, as
fast as possible,
Portuguese language ; for when I

my Moorish gutturals
to master the
came up
151
to a fidalgo, with
from the Spanish, I could very well perceive that

I advanced nothing in his good graces.
On
the whole, I
much
prefer the Spaniards to
the Portuguese.
The prominent
nish manners
a sedate urbanity
is
feature of Spa;
of Portu-
guese, an overstrained ceremony.
As
to society
Janeiro,
not
it
may
among the
be said there
call that
society
cluded.
Brazilians at Rio de
is
none
for I can-
from which females are ex-
Generally speaking, the husband of a
Brazilian wife
is
much her companion
not so
His house
her keeper.
and distrust:
for
is
as
the abode of jealousy
he cannot always stretch his
confidence to the point of imagining fidelity in
the wife of his bosom, any
more than he can
upon the virtuous forbearance of the friend

of his heart. His daughters are brought up
rely
in
Moorish seclusion, and his wife
is
delivered
over to the keeping of a train of sombre slaves
and domestics.
I
can say
of Brazilian
little
or nothing to you, therefore,
society.
found every
effort at
152
introduction to
things in
circles, as
it
unavailing.
There were such
Rio de Janeiro, among the highest

occasional parties, very formal, and
but no foreigners, not

even the corps diplomatique, were admitted to
of very short duration
them, except upon rare occasions.
quence of
common
this
conse-
exclusion of females from
the
laws of humanity and of social inter-
men
course was, that the

their
The
time together
congregated, and spent
in the
coffee-houses
and
other places of public resort.
As
was walking one day in the outskirts of
the town, a jingling, old, uncouth-looking vehicle,
drawn by
six mules, in rusty harness,
and be-
stridden by antiquated-looking coachmen

postilions)
approached me.
Two
(not
swarthy and
diminutive hussars, mounted on horses like rats,

preceded, in the capacity of out-riders, the cum-
was followed by about a

dozen of the same kind of household troops, and
brous machine.
It
proved to be one of the royal carriages, containing the portly personage of
Don
Joao, the
king.
People on horseback dismounted as the royal

cortege approached
some foot-passengers of the
A.NECDOTE OF KING JOHN.
lower order kneeled
came
to a stand;
passing
all
153
took off their hats, and
while one of the out-riders,
recently-arrived Englishman,
unac-
quainted with the tokens of respect exacted by

royalty, gave him a substantial intimation of his
duty with the flat side of his sword.

I was told the following anecdote of the
king.
vessel having arrived in port, at a time of
great anxiety, as to the state of the campaign

in Portugal, with recent news from that
country,
the king, anxious to have a viva voce account of
all
the particulars, ordered the captain of the
vessel, a rough, independent,
man, into
his presence.
As an
John Bull
sort of
act of condescen-
sion, the royal hand was held out for the English
Unaccustomed
tar to kiss.
court,
and
little
to the etiquette of a
dreaming that any one human
being could be expected to kiss the hand of

another,
for
one
the English captain took the action

of
simple kindness, indicative of his
majesty's desire to
make
welcome him
his better acquaintance.
his heart, the sailor
he would a
to Brazil,
and
In the fulness of
grasped the royal hand as
m arl in e- spike
seaman-like cordiality,
and shaking it with

he told King John not to
;
H3
154
ANECDOTE OF KING JOHN.
be down-hearted,
for
that the English wottld
certainly drive the French out of Portugal.
The
king wiped his tears, forced from him partly by

the tale he heard, and partly by the squeeze he
received.
The
courtiers
would have interposed,
but the king, with his usual composure, and

paucity of words, said, "deixa estar," "let him
alone."
Yours, &c.
J. P. R.
155
LETTER
To J
Classes or Castes of South
XII.
ESQ.
American population
Blending and grades of Caste
The Aborigines
The Portu-
The Negro
guese Fidalgo.
London, 1838.
IT
is
my
intention, in this letter,
to give
you
a rapid sketch of the various classes or castes of
South American population; and especially of

In England, my own
ideas were very vague on the subject, as comthat of Rio de Janeiro.
pared with the knowledge I have gained from

actual observation;
and
hope that by
trans-
mitting to you the result of such observation, I

shall impart a more defined notion than you now
have of the sort of people among whom I have
lived for so long a period of
How the
my
life.
continent of America was discovered
by Columbus, three hundred and fifty years ago,

we all know. That it was then peopled by Indian
tribes, living in various states of
savage rude-
THE ABORIGINES.
156
ness, or primitive simplicity,
we
also
know.
The
Mexicans, under Montezuma, were in a compara-
advanced state of society; but still their

records were hieroglyphical, their bodies nearly
tively
naked; their personal ornaments were feathers,

their skins were painted and overlaid with oil;
their temples were the abodes of fantastic images;
king was almost idolatrous;

their conception of the Spaniards was that they
were gods; and of their artillery, that it was
their devotion to their
thunder.
ing
all
do not think therefore, notwithstand-
that has been written to prove the con-
trary, that the
Mexican Indians could have been,
in our acceptation of the term, a civilized people.
Then
Yncas, and their subjects in Peru,

they were, no doubt, an amiable, mild, and confiding race, with plenty of silver and gold, earthen
for the
mounds
dead
mausoleums
or
in which to inter their
beads with which to mark their knowledge
of numbers
and the belief that
descended from the sun.
them a
title to
they have
it
been of a very
their kings
were
If these facts
give
be considered a
civilized people,
but their civilization must have

different
now designate by
kind from that which we
this word.
THE ABORIGINES.
The
157
Chilians were a wild, indomitable race;
the Patagonians not less so
some of the Indian
Paraguay, though very numerous, were

so imbecile as to be subdued to the most servile
tribes of
obedience by the Jesuits; while many of the

Brazilian aborigines were positive cannibals.
On
the whole, therefore, I cannot but conclude
that America,
by
when
savages, in the
phrase
first
discovered, was peopled
common
acceptation of that
savages, I allow,
though
under various
grades of removal from absolute barbarism.
The
next curious question is, whence did they come ?

To this I think the answer is, from Asia. Many
migratory tribes
tinent to
may have
crossed from one con-
the other at Behring's straits;
and
wandering thence for thousands of miles, located

themselves in the vast,
fertile,
and inviting
re-
gions of America, North and South.
As
to
how long ago
this
may have
been, specu-
been very busy but upon evidence so

equivocal, and data so conjectural, that I think
we must allow that point to be one of impossible,
lation has
or very difficult ascertainment.

is
one of very
little
Fortunately,
it
consequence, except to the
THE ABORIGINES.
158
over-curious chronologist, or indefatigable de-
votee of antiquarian research.
Supposing the Indians to be of origin as ancient as the Egyptians,
what the better should
Of what great consequence

whether
can
us,
they arrived in the New
World in an absolutely savage state, and rose to
we be
for this fact ?
be to
it
gradual and comparative civilization, or whether

they came, like Moses, skilled in all the wisdom
of the Egyptians, and degenerated into the state
in which they
Mendoza?
were found by Cortez, Pizarro, and
If,
however, you are curious upon
such questions, I refer you to the multifarious
works which treat of them

with the less
country and
difficult
its
while I
am
content
part of remarking upon the
inhabitants as I have seen them,
and of taking for
my
guide,
as
to the past,
authentic history, from the time of
Columbus
downwards.
The
first
question I ask myself
is,
where are
the aborigines of the country ? and Echo answers,

" where?" I saw none of them about Montevideo
I
saw none of them at Rio de Janeiro.
was told there were a few wandering tribes of
BLENDING OF CASTES.
159
them on the Pampas, or plains of the River Plate,

and also that there were scattered and migratory
hordes in the woods,, and by the streamlet banks
of the interior of Brazil.
But
in the
now populous
districts of
Portu-
guese America, as well as on the whole eastern

side of the River Plate, of which side
is
Montevideo
the capital, the poor Indians have been nearly
Their birthplace and birthright

have been wrested from them, in Brazil, by
exterminated.
soldiers
and adventurers from Portugal.
These,
as they proceeded to establish themselves in the

country, brought
some females from Europe, and
imported, at a later period, a

portion from Africa.
lation,
much
The mass
claiming to be white,
is
larger pro-
of the popu-
descended from
the original Portuguese settlers, and from African,

in
and Indian women.
The Ethiopian
blood,
the course of centuries, has got somewhat
attenuated ; so that the
man who
has not curly
hair,
however dun
he
of " sangre noble," or noble blood.
is
may be
his hue, boasts that
Light hair, and a ruddy complexion, are held

to be indisputable and enviable marks of
nobility.
BLENDING AND GRADES OF CASTE.
160
A Portuguese
thus
poetess
recorded to have sung
is
Olhos pardos e negros

Sab os commues ;
Mais os do minho amante
Deos fz azues.
Which may be rendered
as follows
Black eyes and brown
You may
But
every day see
blue, like
my
The gods made
lover's,
for
me.
Thus you may
perceive that the population of
South America
is
racter.
of
it, is
The
of a very heterogeneous cha-
highest,
and most
aristocratic class
descended from the original invaders, or
marauders, who took over with them European
The next
mistresses, or wives.
grade, or caste,
is that descended from mixed Portuguese, and

Indian or African ancestors then comes a sort
:
of dubious race, claiming descent from a
Eu-
ropean male parent, but with very equivocal

pretensions to
it
your mulatto of decidedly
African caste follows next; and last of
all
poor Sambo
But
himself,
from
Congo.
greatest dons are your real Europeans,
comes
the
men who,
THE NEGRO.
161
having given up a wine-shop in Oporto, or abandoned a counter at Lisbon, are converted into
fidalgos in Brazil,
mixed blood
hostility
and
and consider
all
classes of
The
as the dust beneath their feet.
between natives of the mother country
Creoles is so bitter, that
it is
no uncommon
thing to see a European father endeavouring

to coerce
his
American born son
What
degradation of bondage.
into all the
is
worse,
the
Europeans, having always been comparatively

few in number, appear to have acted, from the
first
conquest of the country, on that intuitive
and constitutional
fear which has at last proved
be well founded, that their own offspring

would one day rise up against them, and wrest
to
from their fathers the
soil
which
thes'e
obtained
by conquest, and the others possess by inheritance.
The
it is
population of Rio
jarring in principle.
is as
various in hue, as
Of about one hun-
dred thousand inhabitants, the amount of the

population when I was there, at least
fifty
thou-
sand were negroes, twenty thousand mulattoes,

one, two, or three castes removed from black ; of
native born subjects, descended from European
THE NEGRO.
'162
parents, there were about twenty thousand
of foreigners and Portuguese
and
who had migrated
from home, about ten thousand.
The European, and

when he
first
especially the
Englishman,
lands amid so motley a family,
is
struck with the desperate inequality which exists
man and
between the black
the white.
The
negro, in a state of almost complete nudity, does
home the
the work of a horse; and he carries
earnings of the day to his heartless master, who,

in return, feeds
and
drills
him
him with
to
and banana;
hard labour by means of the
thong, or of the cane.
farinha
Then, so great
is
the pre-
ponderance of the coloured population over the
you can scarcely believe

a colony of blacks and mulattoes.
white, that in the streets
you are not
in
Their misery, their
filth,
their nakedness, their
disease, their howlings as they work, the pitiless
rigour with which they are treated, and the pre-
mature death to which they are too often doomed,

are all things, which on an Englishman's first
arrival
alternately chill his
and melt
it
with compassion.
heart with horror,
Yet
so fatal is the
influence of habit, so invariable in its working
the familiarizing process of association,
is
by which
THE PORTUGUESE FIDALGO.
we come
at length to contemplate even

misery
with indifference, provided
susceptibilities
my
I
upon
be always before
it
had been three months
us, that ere I
sions
163
became blunted, and
first
at Rio,
my
my
impres-
landing were almost worn from
mind.
began
natural place;
and not
cocked hat,
shoe-buckles
with lace
ruffles,
slave
in
frill
was
in his
his the Portu-
in
his
black satin
gold-headed cane, and
in his large gold seals,
and gawdy
in his richly- embroidered
amethyst breast-pin;
shirt,
less
out
guese fidalgo, tricked

breeches,
naked
to think the
and
emerging from
in his large display of
his wrists,
ing, in their purity, with his
and contrast-
tawny hands.
Yours, &c.
J. P.
R.
164
LETTER
To
XIII.
Scene on the
Campo de
ESQ.
Sant' Ana.
London, 1838.
IN the course of
stay at
my
Rio de Janeiro, I
witnessed a very singular spectacle in the
de Sant'
in
Ana
and
if
any other form than the one in which
exhibited to
me
Campo
slavery were not to be seen
there, I
conclude that of the
it
was
should be forced to
many
conditions in the
world, that of the African slave is one of the
most happy.
The Campo de
Ana
an immensely
large unfinished square in the suburbs of the
town. It is a sort of common, and is covered
Sant'
is
Thither every Sunday

and holiday (which are called dias de festa, or
with a short green sward.
days of festivity) masses of the negro

lation,
amounting
in the
popu-
aggregate to ten
or
CAMPO DE SANT' ANA.

fifteen thousand, resort
amusement and
Very curious recreation
creation.
to
for
165
it is,
and
re-
offers
you such a singular spectacle of African hi-
larity,
uproar, and confusion, as
to be witnessed, on the
is
not perhaps
same extensive
any other country out of Africa
scale, in
itself.
Early
saw crowds and groups of neand
groes hurrying to the scene of action
in
the day I
whereas,
when
at work, they are almost naked,
the most of them on that day had some sort of

clothing.
Many
of
them were decked out
in all
the gaiety of white trousers, and jacket, and of

calico, pink,
coats.
yellow,
and
light blue, for waist-
Others had sashes to correspond, chains,

seals without watches
cocked hats,
and large
snuff-boxes, and yellow canes.
Many smoked
pipes or cigars; some had already partaken freely of the cana (a spirit made from the
their
sugar-cane), and
were in evidently high good

humour, both with themselves and others. The
joke,
all
the laugh, the intensity of gesticulation,
and earnestness of demeanour, evinced they were

bent upon an excursion of no common pleasure
Their politeness to each other might
have graced a higher school, and would have
or interest.
CAMPO DE SANT' ANA.
166
commanded
praise, if
it
had not
The bows,
excited mirth.
so irresistibly
the scrapes,
the
twirl with which the snuff-boxes were exchanged,
the difficulty one

to take the wall,
man had
to persuade another
and the continual lowering of
the hat in token of mutual respect,
to say no-
thing of the elaborate compliments which passed,
and the eager inquiries which were made respecting
my Lady
So-and-so,
all
contrasted so cu-
garb and condition of the parties,

as to provoke the most ludicrous associations.
Still I sympathised most sincerely in the tempo-
riously with the
rary happiness which these poor victims of op-
pression and cruelty were enjoying; and while

I could not help laughing at the expense of the
merry thousands that surrounded me, it was a

real and heartfelt consolation to observe that
their
hard and wretched
by them
for
intense, even
lot
could be forgotten
a season, and
make way
for
an
though evanescent enjoyment of
life.
Onward pressed
the groups of the various
African nations, to the
Campo
de Sant' Ana, the
destined theatre of revelry and din.
the native of Mosambique, and
Here was
Quilumana, of
CAMPO DE SANT' ANA.
167
Men
Cabinda, Luanda, Benguela, and Angola.
who had never been
able to live in peace at home,
whose business was war, and who, with the
fierce-
common to savage nature, inflicted cruelties

on each other, which all equally scorned to de-
ness
precate,
and of which
all
were too haughty to
complain, mingled here in momentary reconciliation,
under the levelling influence of slavery.
The
profitable alternative of selling instead of
slaying their enemies,
is
a snare tended by the
whites to the barbarian warriors, into which the

cupidity of our
ever ready to
common
nature has
made them
fall.
In their capacity of slaves, they are as one

nation.
The war-song and
the dance, the cala-
bash kettle-drum, and the rude but
shrill fife,
the antics, gambols, and gesticulatoins of savage,
yet not untutored performers, have charms for

the negro, which banish from his
mind
all
sent feeling of hardship and degradation

restore
him
for a season to
one of the
pre-
and
common
privileges of humanity, oblivion of woe.
The dense population of the Campo de Sant'

Ana was subdivided into capacious circles, formed
CAMPO BE SAKT' ANA.
16S
each of from three to four hundred blacks, male
and female.
Within these
circles,
the performers danced to
the music which was also stationed there
know
and
not whether the energy of the musicians,
or that of the dancers was most to be admired.
You might
see the cheeks of an athlete of
An-
under the exertion of producing a hideous sound from a calabash, while

another performer dealt blows so thick and
gola ready to crack
heavy on his kettledrum, that only the impervious nature of a bullock's hide could resist
them.
master of ceremonies, dressed like a
mountebank, presided over the dance
was
but
it
to encourage, not restrain, the boisterous
mirth which prevailed with
Eight
or ten figurantes were
in the
midst of the
the
human frame
paramount sway.
moving to and fro
circle, in
a way to exhibit
divine under every conceivable
variety of contortion
and
Pre-
gesticulation.
sently two or three standing in the crowd appeared
was not animation enough and

with a shriek or a song, they rushed in and joined
to think there
the dance.
The
musicians played a louder and
CAMPO DE
SANT' ANA.
169
more discordant music; the dancers, reinforced

by the
auxiliaries
animation
the
mentioned,
demons
in all the furor of
wrapped
seemed
themselves
auxiliaries
fresh
gathered
the shouts
of approbation and clapping of hands were re-
doubled
every looker-on
sibylline spirit
musicians
in
participated
the
which animated the dancers and
the welkin rang with the wild enthu-
siasm of the negro clans
till
thousands of voices,
accompanied by the whole music on the field,

closed in a scene of jubilee which had continued
nearly
all
ical sun,
day, under the burning rays of a trop-
and which had been supported by such
bodily exertions on the part of the several performers, as bathed their frames in one continual
torrent of perspiration.
In half an hour, the various groups dispersed,

and Campo de Sant' Ana,
in the greatest order
as
Night threw over
came
still
and
it
her sombre mantle, be-
silent as the desert or the
tomb.
Yours, &c.
J. P.
VOL.
1.
R.
170
LETTER
To J
Thunder-storm at Rio de Janeiro

Society of
Pampero
XIV.
,
ESQ.
Land and Sea
Breezes*
the
Music and Dancing.
Buenos Ayres
London, 1838.
SHORTLY
Sant'
had witnessed the Campo de

1 bade a not unwilling adieu
after I
Ana
scene,
to Rio de Janeiro.
I liked neither the climate
nor the people of that place

that
all
fertile
and beautiful
and
I soon found,
as
Nature had
made
the country, there was something more

than that required to counterbalance the many
desagremens connected with the unattractive
town, and
The
its
unsocial citizens.
succession of political events
had once more
opened up a free intercourse with the River Plate,

and I was glad to avail myself of a favourable offer which was made to me to proceed to
Buenos Ayres.
The evening
I
before I
embarked
for that port,
witnessed a very splendid scene at Rio.
Return-
THUNDER-STORM AT RIO DE JANEIRO.
171
ing about sunset from the beautiful bay of Boto-
be ready to join my vessel early

in the morning on which she was to sail, I was
overtaken on my way by a most violent storm.
fogo, in order to
The
clouds
suddenly gathered
a dense
into
and gloomy mass of black and lowering vapour.
The
lightning gleamed in the distant horizon,
and hollow-murmuring thunder rolled its low and

portentous sound over the whole darkened canopy
of heaven.
The
to suffocation
air
was
sultry
and
close,
almost
and everything indicated an im-
mediate and heavy storm.

I rode on, in the hope of
escaping it but before I could reach Rio, the windows of heaven were
;
opened; and down, in one mighty torrent, poured

the impetuous waters.
The thunder cracked in
loud and louder peals, and the lightning became
more forked and vivid in its flashes. My trembling and affrighted horse refused for a few mo-
ments to proceed on the road, and ran violently

up against a hedge for shelter. There was no
house near ; and the storm, assuming every moment a fiercer aspect, looked as if it had deter-
mined
to rage for ever.
The
glare of the light-
ning now illumined the whole atmosphere, except
i2
172
THUNDER-STORM AT RIO DE JANEIRO.
at intervals so short as to render the transition
from light to darkness both terrific and sublime.

My feeling at each such transition was as if I had
been struck blind
while the
now loud and
inces-
sant roar of the thunder was such as might have

indicated war in heaven.
Those who have never witnessed a

storm can have very
idea of either
or irresistibility.
nificence
night as
little
if
a breaking
Nature were
I spurred
streets
there,
me
is
my
magthis
nearly
at length,
Here a
spectacle
altogether novel.
with the exception of the
Direita, are very narrow,
the water
on
and we reached,
the town of Rio de Janeiro.
was presented to
seemed on
up of the ordinary laws of
at hand.
frantic horse, however,
It
tropical
its
The
Rua
and the spouts by which
carried off the roofs of the houses,
project on either side so as nearly to
other in the middle of the street.
meet each
The
result
is,
that on occasions of very heavy rain, the waters
from these spouts meet, and form, by their junction, arches of crystal as it were, along the whole
These liquid arches, as I passed

under them, were lit up and burnished by the
vivid lightning, and the whole
city looked as if it
line of street.
THE PAMPERO.
173
were the abode of genii, with canopies of transparent crystal, and illuminations of electric
At daybreak
we were
the next morning
fire.
slowly
wafted out of the bay by the land-breeze for as

there is a sea-breeze which generally blows into
;
the harbour every evening, so there
which blows out of
it
dawn
at the
an hour or two after
But
it.
watched
its arrival,
rippling
the bay,
air
fanning
my
a land one,
of day,
and
for
for these breezes,
would be imposOften have I anxiously
especially the evening one,

sible to exist in Rio.
is
it
and when
and
its
felt
have seen
first
it
come
refreshing
feverish frame, I have experienced
a transition the most delightful ; a sensation so

grateful, as to constitute one of the highest luxuries
which the climate can
We
arrived off the
afford.
mouth of the River Plate
in
seven days from Rio de Janeiro, and calculated on
being at anchor off Buenos Ayres in two days

more. But we were encountered by one of those
hurricanes called pamperos,
the south- west gales,
which blow over the plains or pampas, that intervene between the Andes and the River Plate.
We
were forced again out to sea, and did not

reach our destined port for twenty-two
days, in-
THE PAMPERO.
174
The
stead of nine, as anticipated.

hurricanes, while they last,
is
fury of those
incredible.
Un-
broken by any resistance in its career, the blast

sweeps over hundreds of leagues of level ground,
and
on reaching the River Plate, leaves

the sandy shores of it on the western side uncovered for some miles. I remember one occaoften,
sion in 1810-11,
on which the water was blown
out of the river opposite to Buenos Ayres ; and
though the Plate is there thirty miles wide,

and the tide seldom recedes more than a quarter
of a mile, yet the shore was laid bare for up-
wards of six miles, and the Portenos (so are

the inhabitants of Buenos Ayres called)
out upon
it
of-war, lying at
town.
sent
artillery to attack a Spanish sloop
about that distance from the
She had been
left,
in naval phraseology,
high and dry, in consequence of the extraordinary

ebb-tide produced by the pampero. After this
had so
far
moderated as to admit of the waters,
flowing back to their natural channel, they rushed

in with the celerity of a torrent.
Several persons,
who were walking on the beach, were drowned,

unable to escape on account of the overwhelming
impetus with which the tide returned.
SOCIETY OF BUENOS AYRES.
175
on arriving at Buenos
there a person whose
Ayres, to find established
and
acquaintance I had made at Montevideo,
It
was
my good
fortune,
who, upon this plea, considered himself bound to

take me home and lodge me in his own hospitable
He had
mansion.
just married into
an
resting family of the
name
living with his wife,
and her two pretty
of Castellanos
inte;
and
sisters
(one married to a captain in the Spanish navy),

formed a very nice family circle. Nothing could
to me have been more agreeable or more useful,
than this introduction
for while I thus, after a
banishment of nine months from female

was once more admitted to
it,
made
society,
rapid pro-
by our daily intercourse, in the Spanish

language, and had the acquaintance of most of
gress,
the best families of the place.

to the Viceroy Liniers,
the wane.
loosely,
He
whose
was introduced
star
was
visibly
on
held the reins of government very
under the control of
his audiencia
and
Madame O Gor1
cabildo; while the then celebrated
man was
the sole arbitress of his domestic con-
and of the bestowal of his patronage. His

successor, Cizneros, had already been named by
cerns,
176
the court of Old Spain, to supersede the con-
queror of General Whitelock.
Meantime, however, the most splendid tertulias were given by Madame; and I saw congregated,
after
night
her house, such
at
night,
specimens of female beauty and vivacity, as would
have excited envy, or commanded admiration, in an

English ball-room. The Portenas certainly boast
among them
of very charming women, polished
external appearance and manners,

than
highly cultivated in mind; but
perhaps,
more
in
much good
they have so
vivacity, as to leave
you
sense, penetration,
in
and
doubt whether they

would be if
are not better as they are, than they
more
very
trained.
artificially
little
They have
affectation or pride
assuredly
and that can be
no very defective training which excludes, in the

formation of female character, two such odious
accomplishments.
Passing one day by the convent of Santo

Domingo, my attention was attracted to one of
the
domes of
it,
painted a great
sizes.
" Is
it
on which
saw conspicuously
number of cannon-shot
possible/'
remarked
to
of
all
Mrs.
177
was walking, " that so

many shots could have struck that devoted turret,
and yet left it standing ?" " No no," she replied
whom
Torrents, with
"two
or three did strike
painted
all
it,
but the
friars
have
these to superinduce the belief that
make no impresAnd the common
the balls of you heretics could

sion
on Catholic
people believe
soldiers,
know
towers.
it.
But we
ladies,
better than that
for
though not
look at what
your balls did at Montevideo. For my part, I

believe that no right religion can have anything
to
do with powder and ball."

There was a good-natured
tone,
and even
complimentary turn, given to this little speech,

evidently
meant
to palliate the chagrin
my
fair
companion imagined might be associated in my

mind with Whitelock's defeat, and the bombastic
display by which
it
had been commemorated by
the pious fraud of the Dominicans.
The
great fluency and facility observable in
the conversation of the Portefias
is
undoubtedly
traceable to their early introduction to society,
and
their
almost nightly habit of associating
together at their tertulias.

of seven or eight,
is
There, young miss
expected to manage her fan,
i3
178
walk, dance, and speak with as
much
propriety
mamma.
as her sister of eighteen or her
And
constant method of teaching by example
this
does, to the extent to which
it
goes,
more than
ten years of schooling towards the formation of

lady-like, natural,
and agreeable character and
address,
As
for the bonos mvres of the
young
ladies, the
old ones used to think them safest under the

gilant inspection of the mother.
therefore,
when
first I
visited
company of
their
of some other married relation or
a promenade could the unmarried
females take, but in the

ones.
The daughters
Buenos Ay res, were
never to be seen, but in the
mammas, or
Not
friend.
vi-
They walked
company
in
of the married
string,
one before
another, with the most easy, graceful,
and yet
Then
the kind
dignified step you can imagine.
by the courteous and elegant motion

of the fan was neither to be forgotten nor
recognition
imitated.
If a
The mamma was always
male friend met a
little
in the rear.
family group, he was
permitted to take off his hat, turn round, accompany the young lady he liked best, and say to
her
all
the pretty things he could muster; but
MUSIC AND DANCING.
179
there was no shaking of hands, or offering of the
The matron
arm.
did not insist upon hearing
the conversation that passed between the young
couple
she was content to see that no practical
impropriety, or indecorous familiarity took place.

It was the same if you called at a house.
The
mother hastened into the drawing-room, and re-
mained present with her daughter during the

whole time of the
little restraint,
visit.
To make up
liked at the piano, the country dance,
than
all,
for this
however, you could say what you

or,
better
during the walk.
Although these are
still
the general observ-
ances of female society in Buenos Ayres, they
have already been greatly modified, and continue

to be so, by intercourse and intermarriage with
French and English manners and
foreigners.
customs are getting gradually interwoven with

those
of the natives, particularly
higher
classes.
Music
There
is
furnish a
is
much
among
the
Buenos Ayres.
every house who can
cultivated at
always one lady in
good performance of
all
the tunes re-
quired for the minuet, the waltz, and the country
MUSIC AND DANCING.
180
dance.
And when
the Portenas do dance,
it is
with a graceful composure, and easy elegance,
much beyond
the
medium attainment
of the art
derivable from any system of dancing- school education, of
which I
am
aware, in this country.
Yours, &c.
J.
P. R.
181
LETTER
XV.
To J
Expedition to Paraguay
Pampas
Equipment
Departure
for
ESQ.
for
journey over the
Assumption.
London, 1838.
I
HAVE
sketched
to
shortly
you
the female
Buenos Ayres and I omit just now

of the male, because it has been
mention
any
society of
already referred to in
some preceding
and described as constituting a
letters,
part, with only
slight modification^, of the great South American

family.
Leaving Buenos Ayres behind us
the present,
me
my
to a remote
purpose
and very
the republic of Paraguay.
is
to
little
So
carry
known
far,
for
you with
region,
our sketch of
South America, especially of Buenos Ayres, may
be considered as a somewhat necessary
intro-
duction to the interior of the River Plate

beside that
time,
by
its
for
provinces were designated, at one
the general appellation of Paraguay, I
think that the rather excursive manner in which
we have endeavoured
to give
you a glance
at
EXPEDITION TO PARAGUAY.
182
the
New
a whole
as
World,
first,
such as
it was under the dominion of Old Spain, and

secondly, as modified, and in process of being
modified,
by the Revolution,
will
enable you
better to understand the question at large,
and
and personal adventures,

which we propose shall form a more detailed
to appreciate the facts
illustration of the general matter.
What we
immediate
rather
are hereafter to say, will have
more
reference to the isolated province, or
republic,
of Paraguay,
as
now
distin-
guished from the other provinces of the Rio de

la Plata:
travel
but as there
from Buenos
is
a great distance to
Ay res before
you can reach
and as there is something novel

both in the mode of performing the journey, and
in the objects which present themselves in the
Assumption
course of
it,
I shall
endeavour, in the
first
place,
to depict these.
The
expedition which I undertook to Paraguay
and the ship engaged
for
the purpose, being equipped and stored with
all
was a mercantile one
things necessary, commenced, in December, 1811,
the laborious navigation of the River Parana.
She had twelve hundred miles alternately
to sail
EQUIPMENT FOR A JOURNEY OVER THE PAMPAS. 183
and warp against a stream which runs at the rate

of three miles an-hour and as she was not ex;
summer
pected during the

there,
the veriest
is
season (for
December
make
to
midsummer)
the
passage in less than three months, while I could

perform the distance on horseback in fifteen or
sixteen days, I determined to travel
by
land.
Doffing the habiliments of an Englishman, I
put on a light jacket, hidden under a poncho,

of a sort of fustian manufacture of the country.
The
lightness of its material kept
the closeness of
My
the rain.
it
served
as an
its
me
my
while
it
as a coverlet during the night,
awning over head while I sat
or slept
cool,
hung, preserved me from

poncho did more than this for
which
position in
me
texture, and the flapping
siesta
at
my
and
meals,
during the heat of the day.
The next, and most conspicuous part of my dress,

was a huge straw hat, with the circular amplitude
of a large parasol.
Round my
waist I wore a
broad leathern girdle, fastened in front by a

At one side of this belt was my
large button.
by a curiously- wrought
were
stuck a brace of pistols.
and
sheath,
opposite
A red silk sash tied round my small-clothes kept
carving-knife, protected
EQUIPMENT FOR A JOURNEY
184
them up
and a pair of stout loose boots, armed
with silver spurs, of which the rowels were nearly
an inch in diameter, completed
my
travelling
attire.
My
horse furniture was equally well adapted
to the country as
little like
the
haunches, and
The
for the recado,
underlaid by
covering
apparel,
that in use here.
was exchanged
saddle,
my own
and quite
as
hunting- saddle
a sort of pack-
a large piece of leather
whole of the horse's back and
made with
a view to prevent the
sweat penetrating to the clothes or upper gear

of the saddle.
Over this pack-saddle were laid
various folds of worsted and cotton
sure a soft seat, and uppermost of
stuff, to in-
all,
to insure
a cool one, a piece of strong, but finely-dressed

leather.
The under
part of the gear was
bound
by one very strong girth fastened

by thongs passed through a ring-bolt, and capable of any purchase when it is required to
to the horse
The upper
was
fastened
a
of
stuff
fine
texture,
part
by
girth
which goes over all. Such an apparatus must be
tighten the multifarious furniture.
cumbrous
but seeing no bed
is to
be procured in
travelling over the country, a saddle thus capable
OVER THE PAMPAS.
185
of being converted into a comfortable couch is
extremely convenient.
common Spanish
bit,
The
bridle I used
was the
with reins and head-piece
by the Pampa Indians, in a style of combined neatness and strength that would surprise
plaited
some of our best whip-makers.

complete Gaucho, and an old
equipped
less gorgeously,
but
servant, a
My
was
post- rider,
still
after the
same
fashion as myself, with only the difference of the

hat.
His was the
had ever seen.

off the legs of
mine the
smallest,
Then
his boots
largest, I
had been stripped
a horse, and his spurs were of iron.
His poncho and saddle-gear were
to
and
They betokened a
sadly the worse for the wear.
man accustomed
all coarse,
hard work and small pay.
Behind him he carried a pair of large polished

bullock's horns swung across his saddle, and filled
with brandy.
little
at the
bag
contained some biscuit and
salt.
rusty sabre at his left side,
blunderbuss at his right

ped.
Last of
all
He
saddle-peak
had a large
and not
less rusty
and thus was he equip-
came the
postilion, all tatters,
without shoes, with an old cast-off foraging cap
on his head, long bushy hair hanging from under

it, a jacket, and a worn-out poncho, girt kilt-wise
186
DEPARTURE FOR ASSUMPTION.
round his
waist, with a
pair of not over-clean
drawers peeping from under it. He threw my

small portmanteau behind his recado, and fast-
ened to
with two hide-thongs the two ends
it
of what contained
ing
my
little
my portable wardrobe. Seeme already mounted, the
servant and
urchin of a guide (for he was a mere fcoy)
with a note of interrogation,

Senor?" " Shall we be off?" I
said,
" Vamo-nos
Vamos;"
replied,
and
a
all three,
little
after
through the
streets of
had
putting spurs to our horses,
were
break of day at a hand-gallop

still,
and, at that hour, deserted
Buenos Ayres,
I
Assumption.
of introduction to most of the people
letters
of the towns which
for
on the road between the
lie
two places and with the buoyancy of a traveller,

bent upon new discoveries, and of a speculator
;
going to
visit
the fabled country of El
Dorado
with the pleasure, moreover, of being the
Englishman who had
first
sallied forth to explore the
regions of Paraguay, and visit

tion, I felt as light as
its
capital,
Assump-
a feather, and seemed to
ride as fast as the wind.
Yours, &c.
J. P.
187
LETTER
To J
Dinner at Luxan
XVI.
Came Con
Cuero
ESQ.
to
Journey
Santa Fe.
London, 1838.
AT
the end of our
first
day's journey I found
we
had ridden
sixty-three miles, and passed through

three villages, San Jose de Flores, Moron, and
Luxan.
We
had changed horses
at miserable
huts (called post-houses) four times and I had

dined with the curate and friars at Luxan.
;
This dinner-party constituted the only remarkmy journey that day. Having been
able feature of
he thought it prome, to which the governor
well introduced to the curate,
per to make a feast for
and the three
The day was
friars of
the place were invited.
excessively hot,
and both the go-
vernor and I were requested to take off our

jackets, he, like myself, being dressed in
courtly costume.
The
no more
curate took off his cassock,
DINNER AT LUXAN.
188
and the conventuals loosened

I
found that
all this
ample habits.
their
preparation to insure any-
thing like comfort at dinner, was not the less

necessary, that the
the table was an
huge earthen
steam from
contents.
its
first
dish which was set
enormous
upon
olla podrida, in a
sending forth volumes of

multifarious and almost boiling
platter,
Sans ceremonie, and
in spite
of the
and
heat, the whole party approached the platter,
ate in
most
common
out of
it,
each the savoury morsel
Only the governor and I had

but he seemed to like the olla podrida
to his taste.
plates
better eaten from the dish
and
I,
not choosing
to be singular, followed his example.
there were waiting
Behind us
two mulatto men-servants,
and a negress with nothing whatever above her

chemise but a petticoat tied round her waist.
These servants stood with
their
arms crossed
the olla podrida had nearly disappeared.
till
The
remove was a dish of the celebrated " carne con

cuero," or beef roasted in the skin of the animal
and
let
no Englishman boast of
after he has tasted this.
his roast beef
A proper dish of " carne
con cuero'' (and that of the curate of
Luxan was
excellent) consists of the ribs cut, hide
and
all,
CARNE CON CUERO.
189
from the side of a fat yearling. It may weigh,

when served, about twenty pounds, and being
roasted in the hide, of course the juice of the
meat
is
all
preserved.
The
animal, on part of
which we were now feasting, had been slaughtered that very morning, and yet the flesh was
tender and
full flavoured.
Carne con cuero
is
altogether one of the most savoury dishes of

It was attacked
which you can well partake.
and demolished as the
olla
podrida had been;
and the servants then removed and replaced dish

Roast fowl, boiled fowl,
after dish, as before.
hashes, and stews followed in rapid succession.
Then came
the fish (for the Spaniards always
take their fish
last),
and abundance of candied
sweetmeats, milk, and honey.
Such a dinner,
so
quickly despatched, and by so few people, I had
not seen at any of the Buenos Ayres parties
and though I confess that my long

me to do full justice to it, yet here
ride enabled
I
must yield
and
complete precedence to the friars, the curate,

the
governor.
more than
They
certainly
ate
four times
and expressed themselves very

much concerned for my want of appetite. After
I did,
JOURNEY TO SANTA
190
FE.
dinner we smoked our cigars, and retired to our
In the evening I resumed
siesta.
my
journey,
with a benediction from the curate, and a feeling
and open-
of hearty gratitude for his courtesy
handed
hospitality.
Luxan
a poor and
is
place, containing
It has
ants.
pretty church,
in a
it,
are
for the
cubildo, a
and spacious apartments, ranged
travelling,
now
little
about three hundred inhabit-
a town-house
quadrangular form, for the
Pampa
to
almost deserted
so well
ecclesiastics.
and the miseries incident
known
the speed at which you
(for all is
misery but
get over the ground),
that I shall not detain you long by the account
of
my journey
to
Santa
F.
The post-houses, with

the same, mere mud
a few exceptions, are
all
huts, imperfectly thatched,
kept very dirty, with a
mud
floor,
and two or
three squalling children stretched on dried hides.
The
skulls
There
is
of the bullocks are used for seats.
an out-room, not quite so comfortable
main apartments, appropriated to passengers and a mud hovel, open at every corner
and point, four feet square, serves as kitchen.
as the
JOURNEY TO SANTA
The
is
191
FE.
only cooking you ever see going on there
the boiling of a
roasting of
little
water for mate, and the
a bit of beef for
dinner.
few
straggling fowls are to be seen picking up carrion around the hut;
short
distance
made
in
from
and there
is
a large
it,
always, at a
pen or
corral,
a circular form, with strong wooden
stakes, for the purpose of enclosing horses

horn-cattle.
Near
this
and
corral there is
larger
generally a smaller one for the flock of sheep
which the post-master always keeps. When you

arrive at one of these huts, wanting a relay, two
peons, or
servants on
horseback, are sent in
search of a herd of horses which are out at pas-
Sometimes they find them in ten minutes,

sometimes not for half an hour and if the wea-
ture.
ther be foggy, as
often
it
be content occasionally
three, for your relay.
consists of about
is in
The
herd, which generally
two hundred horses,
into the corral, and the
number
quired for the travellers are
and there
bridled.
you must
two hours, or
winter,
to wait
is
driven
of animals re-
caught by the
lasso,
Being thence led to the post-
house door, the tardy and complex operation of
192
JOURNEY TO SANTA
saddling
At
proceeded with.
is
we stopped
the
FE.
the hut at which

the Post of
night, called
first
young kid for our supper,

and lodged us for nothing. On my
Roxas, they killed a
cooked
it,
remonstrating with the post-master before we

started in the morning,
and
upon
insisting
it
that
he should take payment, he was quite affronted,

and told me very emphatically that such was not
the custom in that country, whatever
He
in mine.
might be
would only take payment
three horses,
tilion's, at
it
my own, my
servant's,
for our
and the pos-
the usual rate of three pence for three
miles each, or a penny

liberty to ride
a- mile for
him as hard
each horse, and
as I pleased.
So
that for the stage of fifteen miles before us, for
a night's lodging and supper, for three horses,
and
for a postilion,
rials
and a
The
postilion claims
self,
and yet
all I
had
to
half, or three shillings
is
pay was seven

and ninepence.
no remuneration
willing to gallop with
for
him-
you at the
rate of thirteen or fourteen miles an hour.
Compare the expense of

what
it is
in
England
this travelling
with
JOURNEY TO SANTA
Two horses cost you
1*.
3d. per mile
this, for fifteen miles,
To
ergo, three
would come to
193
FE.
s.
\Q$d.
*.
rf.
.180
.040
the postilion you must pay 4s. (more than our whole
expense)
And you
bed and supper for yourself

than 7*. 6d., with 2*. 6d. to
will scarcely get a
and servant
for less
attendants
10
220
Being about twelve times more than it costs you
same things between Santa Fe and Buenos
for the
It is true that everything is better in
Ayres.
England; but you
will see that the
South Ame-
ricans have a right to expect that they should be
and the question of relative

superiority can only in fairness commence, after
twelve times better
the difference of expense has been in this ratio
allowed
for.
must
in sorrow remark, that the
primitive custom of charging the traveller nothing
board and lodging, though invariable at the

time of which I write, 1811-12, is no longer so.
for
Increased travelling,
foreigners,
increased intercourse with
increased and increasing
covetousness,
are
post-master of the
all
fast
Pampas
wants,
approximating
the
(without any amelio-
ration of the fare provided for passengers) to

VOL.
I.
JOURNEY TO SANTA
194
FE.
the principles and practice of Mr. Boniface on
the Bath road.

Such, then,
I say
Pampa
is
travelling.
Why
should
any thing of the wild horses and ferocious
insects
Sir Francis
Bond Head
has exhausted
of Canada)
who has not read
his
(late
governor
those topics;
and
book ?
on the morning of my second day's

journey a little stiff; but I travelled ninety miles
notwithstanding. I made as many the next day;
I rose
day and a half after that, I reached

Santa Fe. The whole distance between it and
and
in a
Buenos Ayres
is
340 miles, thus accomplished in
The
four days and a half.
forms
it
in three days
and a
regular courier perhalf.
Consider, now, the extent of country I had travelled over ;
and ask me what, in
breadth, I saw ? After
I left
all its
length and
Luxan, I saw two mise-
rable villages, called Areco and Arrecife; I saw

three small towns, called San Pedro, San Nicolas,
and theRosario, containing each from 500 to 800

inhabitants; I saw one convent called San Lorenzo,
containing about twenty
the post-house huts.
monks
saw
and
thistles
saw also
higher than
JOURNEY TO SANTA
195
FE.
the horse, with the rider on his back
here and
there a few clumps of the Algarroba tree
long
grass;
innumerable herds of
cattle,
wild and
tame
deer and ostriches bounding
over the
plain
bearded biscachas (a
sort of rabbit) coin-
ing out at evening by groups from their thousand

burrows which intersect the country
now the
:
whirring partridge flying from under

feet,
and anon the
little
came within
The town
horse's
mailed armadillo mak-
ing haste to get out of the way.
then
my
Every now and
sight of the splendid Parana.
is situated on a
high prewhich
overlooks
the
river.
But
cipitous bank
its broad, pellucid surface was undisturbed by
any bark
of Kosario
its
magnificent waters glided
down
in all the majesty, but all the seclusion of Nature;

I
for here man has left her almost to herself.
saw a stream two miles broad, and ten
feet deep
I
from
which
at the place
surveyed it; and that
place was 1 80 miles from the mouth of the Plate,
and 2000 from
its
There was no
source.
cata-
no savages sought to
ract to impede navigation
interrupt traffic, or required to be driven from the
;
banks.
The land on both
nature could
make
it;
sides
and
was as
fertile as
offered the impedi-
K 2
JOURNEY TO SANTA
196
FE.
ment of neither wood nor stones
The
to the plough.
climate was most salubrious, and the soil
had been
Euro-
in undisturbed possession of a
Yet
was
pean power
for
300 years.
the grave.
On
a rapid review of such circum-
stances, the
mind
contemplating
is
all
all
still
as
struck with astonishment on
that
man
has failed to do,
where Nature told him so plainly how much he

might have done.
Yours, &c.
J. P.
197
LETTER
Santa Fe and
America
its
XVII.
To J
Inhabitants
A Letter
My
reception at Santa
ESQ.
of introduction in South
Fe"
Fa-
Bathing there
tigue of travelling.
London, 1838.
SANTA FE
is
stream of the great river

is
It has its origin in
called the Salado.
South, 24
bank of a tributary
Parana. That stream
situated on the
30',
lat.
near Salta, the capital of the large
The Salado
province of that name.
irrigates the
whole of it, and flowing through that of Tucuman,

and a considerable portion of the Great Chaco,
falls at
length into the Parana^ in
The branch
of it
lat.
upon which Santa Fe
31
30'.
stands,
here sweeps round, and comes again into the
Parana, about
river,
lat.
32
20',
forming, with this
a considerable island, opposite to Santa Fe.
The town
one of but poor appearance, built

after the fashion of all Spanish towns, with a
is
large square in the
centre,
and eight
streets
SANTA FE AND
198
branching
The
it.
mean
ITS INHABITANTS.
off at right angles
from the corners of
houses are low roofed, generally of
exterior, scantily furnished, with the rafters
exposed to view, the walls whitewashed, and the

"brick floors in most cases without either carpet
or mat to cover their nakedness.
The
streets
are of loose sand, with the exception of one that

is
partially paved.
The number
of the town and suburbs
is
of inhabitants
from four to
five
thousand.
I arrived just after the siesta-hour, which, dur-
ing the heat of summer, commences at one, and

lasts
till five.
itself to
my
very primitive scene presented
view, as, followed
by my
postilion
and
servant, on our jaded horses, and in our

dusty travelling habiliments, I rode through the
narrow streets of the town. Let me premise that
the doors of the houses open generally at once from

the principal apartment of the habitation upon the
street;
and where
it
is
not
so,
a short, but wide
by a gateway, leads to the quadrangle, on every side of which the rooms are
passage, entered
ranged.
Each chamber has
generally a door
opening into this quadrangle, or patio.
Every
gate, every door in every patio, every
SANTA FE AND
outlet from
thrown open
ITS INHABITANTS.
every room
;
into
the
199
street,
was
and the inhabitants, male and
female, in all the
luxury of dishabille, were seated
at the entrances of their
respective
Those who were on the shady
dwellings.
side of the street,
sat literally in the street ; while those
from whose
houses the rays of the sun had not yet departed,

sat within their porch to enjoy the shade.
But
were perfectly exposed to public view. The

gentlemen were dressed simply in a shirt, and
all
pair of white trousers, with their feet in slippers
while the ladies, on principles of like deference
and comfort, rejoiced in a primitive

chemise, a lower vestment, and some loose and
to coolness
transparent upper garment, scarcely at
all
con-
fining the body.
saw at a glance that the ladies of Santa Fe

were altogether different in their appearance and
I
manners from those of Buenos Ayres.

How do you think the natives were employed,
as in the way described, each man, woman, and
child sat in the portals, or
lounged at the doors,

of their houses ? Why, they were either smoking
cigars, sipping mate (the Paraguay tea) through
tube, or eating water-melons.
Some
of them
200
SANTA F
AND
ITS INHABITANTS.
were engaged alternately in all three operations.

The streets were strewed with the rinds of their
favourite fruit, while the air was redolent of their
not
Conceive how I must
less favourite tobacco.
have been shocked to
the
see, for
first
time, a
great proportion of the ladies, openly and undisguisedly, not only smoking, but
smoking cigars
of a size so large, that those of their male com-
panions bore no comparison to them.
lowed that
act,
not to be
named
Then
fol-
in ears polite, so
The mate,
generally connected with smoking.
the melon, the costume, the general coarseness
of the scene, I could have overlooked
but the
large cigar, in a female mouth, which, were
it
ever so beautiful, could never, from that moment,
be considered
shock to
my
oh
delicate,
nerves,,
it
was a
terrible
not then braced, by habit, to
the endurance of a sight so unseemly.
After winding our way through two or three

streets,
osity,
among
like
those motley groups, whose curi-
that of all the inhabitants of small
towns, seemed anxious
to
the travellers were, we
came
be
satisfied as to
to a house, better,
in appearance, than the generality of those
had
hitherto passed.
who
I was told
we
by the postilion
LETTER OF INTRODUCTION IN SOUTH AMERICA. 201

that that was the dwelling of Mr. Aldao;
whom
had a
and found
letter of introduction.
for
I alighted,
his family, like all the rest, seated in
the porch, over their water-melons, mate, and
On
cigars.
delivering
most cordially received
my
and
had already experienced
credentials,
was
found here, as I
a letter of introduction,
Buenos Ayres, that

in South America, is no
such symbol for a
mere
little
in this country.
in
it is
to
substantial hospitality;
form in which
it
superficial civility
It is there a passport
as
and that in every
can be ministered by kindness,
abundance, and welcome, the most single-hearted
and unfeigned.
No
of
sooner did Seiior Aldao read the contents
my
introductory passport from his friend at
Buenos Ayres, than the whole family rose from

their seats, and welcomed me.
The slaves were
called out
the horses were unsaddled
was
ushered into a room much too spacious for the

furniture in
room.
fruit,
it
Here,
and
and
spirits,
was told
wine,
it
was
biscuits,
my
bed-
panales*,
cigars, were spread out before
me
* Refined
sugar, formed into light, transparent, hollow
used for eau sucree.
K 3
rolls,
MY RECEPTION AT SANTA
202
FE.
large silver basin and ewer, with very cool and

clear water for ablution, were brought me, while
drank of the same refreshing beverage from
an
massive
also graced the table;
and the
old-fashioned
silver
mate-cup
silver
tankard.
stretcher, or little bedstead,
on which
my
mat-
tress was laid, was graced with sheets like cambric, pillow-cases of fine
embroidered lawn, and
a crimson damask counterpane.
But
it
could
boast of no curtains, neither had the bed-room
any wash-hand-stand, but, in lieu of it, a leather-bottomed chair of most antique appearance.
There stood by me a tall negress with
a napkin depending over her arm, in double
folds to the ground.
At each extremity
it
was
richly embroidered, and terminated by a deep
fringe of the finest lace.
The body
of the towel
(for such lowly office was the splendid napkin intended to perform) was like a thin India crape
and when I asked my attendant where it had
;
been made, she said " in Paraguay."

Having regaled and refreshed myself,
I sent
my
automaton towel-rack out of the room, and, changing

a
my
little
traveller's garb, I sallied forth to inspect
more
closely the family of
Don
Luis Aldao.
MY RECEPTION AT SANTA
He
203
FE.
was a bachelor, and lived with his mother,
and two
brother,
Twilight
cast her shades over
beginning to
Fecinos,
sisters.
and the moon rose
was just
the Santa
in great splendour
above the horizon, to show that her
silver
beams
would soon turn the coming night into serenest

There is a lustre and magnificence, a brilday.
moonlight of those
regions of unclouded sky, and atmosphere unconliant yet placid glory in the
must
taminajted by fogs, that to be appreciated
The
be enjoyed.
family party now, instead of
being congregated, as after the
siesta,
under the
porch, was grouped in the patio, and increased

friends and neighbours
all going to bathe in
were
They
the glassy stream that laves the green-swarded
banks by which it gently glides.
by the advent of many
of both sexes.
Don Luis
though
not a
it
me
accompany them and

new to me, and seemed
to
was certainly
little
others of
asked
odd, that I should be invited, with
my own
their bath, I
accompany the ladies to

never doubted we were to part comsex, to
pany at the water's edge. I of course consented

to become one of so novel and interesting a party;
and
forth
we
sallied.
The
ladies
were attended
204
BATHING AT SANTA
by a great many female
F.
slaves,
bearing their
mistresses' wearing apparel.
As we moved onward,
en
masse,
many was
the joke, and loud the laugh, which cheered us
on our way.
Much
too plain
and
primitive,
how-
was the language in which

the whole conversation was couched. At length
ever, for reiteration,
the shining river arose
upon our
view, its waters
rippling and dimpling under the dancing
But
of the moon.
my
I
guess,
my
friend, if
beams
you can,
astonishment, when, on reaching the banks,
saw the Santa Fecina Naiads, who had taken
to the stream before our arrival, bandying their
jokes in high glee with the gentlemen
bathing a
were
all
little
way above them.
dressed, the ladies in white robes,
the gentlemen in white drawers;

in the exhibition
ter to
who were
It is true they
my
and
but there was
something that ran rather coun-
preconceived notions of propriety and
decorum.
As
I stood by, I
Santa Fe
saw the whole inhabitants of
suppose scarcely one was left in

the houses) carry on their aquatic gambols as
familiarly as if they had been whirling through the
(for I
mazes of a
quadrille.
Merry-making, revelry,
BATHING AT SANTA F.
205
and laughter were the order of the evening and

yet, from all I heard and saw, during much sub;
sequent intercourse with this people, I verily believe that their bathing diversions were quite as
innocent as a rigid Mussulman would think our
European ball-room scenes
to be.
An over-rigid
judgment passed by a foreigner on the inhabitants

of Santa Fe, because of their
would be as
unjustifiable,
Mahometan
of the
land, France,
and
mode
of bathing,
as erroneous, as that
censor on the
women
and America, because,
in his
country, they are not
of Eng-
like those
cooped up in the
harem.
At length our party emerged from the water.

The ladies were dressed with great dexterity by
their
lected
maids
;
the wet bathing-clothes were col-
the hair, the long, beautiful tresses of
black hair, which had been kept up with a

before the bath was taken,
riant
now
comb
floated in luxu-
abundance over the shoulders, and much
under the waists of the Santa Fecinas, as in slow

procession they returned to their respective homes.
They were
careful not to walk too fast, that they
might not lose the benefit of their refreshing dip

and when, on arrival at home, they assembled, in
;
BATHING AT SANTA F.
206
tertulia, at their porches, or in their patios, the
hair, like
part of
veil,
continued to shroud almost every
them but
their face.
They
alleged that
they could no otherwise have their tresses and

ringlets dried before the
Hereupon
hour of rest.
a good deal of conversation followed,
as to the different habits of the ladies in Santa
Fe and
those in England;
fortunately saved
me
till
a call to supper
from the embarrassment of
answering some rather puzzling questions.

The evening was closed in (notwithstanding
the heat) with a hot supper, abundance of wine,
more water-melons, and

I
am
cigars,
of which latter,
sorry to say, the ladies partook with appa-
rently the greatest relish.
At
twelve o'clock we
quarters for the night
all
;
marched
to our several
and of course
I to
my
There,
large empty room, but luxurious bed.
stretching my wearied limbs, I sank into such an
overwhelmingly-sound repose, as you may imagine would overtake a man after he had ridden
for nearly four
days,
under a broiling sun, without

with but scanty rest,
the shade of a single tree,

indifferent fare,
and unceasing attacks from
a great variety of those venomous insects which
FATIGUE OF TRAVELLING.
207
annoyance of man. To one that

had been so martyrized, a bed like that at Senor
live
by
their
Aldao's was a luxury only to be experienced by

those
who occupy
be paid
for
it
at the cost at
by your Pampa
which
it
must
traveller.
Yours, &c.
J. P.
R.
208
LETTER
XVIII.
To J
ESQ.
Candioti, the Entrerios Estanciero.
London, 1838.
ONE
day, after the siesta-hour, as
now
formed into a Santa Fecino, I was
half trans-
sitting,
without
jacket or waistcoat, with the family party, under

Aldao's porch, there came slowly riding up to us
on horseback one of the
finest-looking,
gorgeously-equipped old gentlemen

"
held.
There," said Aldao,
"
comes
and most
ever be-
my
uncle
Candioti."
I
had often heard of Candioti
not, that
had ever been
who had
in that country?
He
was the very prince of Gauchos, lord cf three

hundred square leagues of territory, owner of
two hundred and
cattle,
fifty
thousand head of horned
master of three hundred thousand horses
and mules, and of more than half a
million of dol-
209
CANDIOTI.
lars, laid
up
in his
in ounces
coffers,
of
gold
imported from Peru.

Just returned from one of his excursions into
that country, there he sat, on a sleek
and power-
bay gelding, the finest animal, decidedly, I
ful
had seen
in
the country.
splendid as horse and rider,
Anything half so
taken together, and
with reference to the Gaucho style of equipment

in vogue,
America.
was certainly not
When
to
be found
in
South
the family congratulations on
meeting, after a six months' absence, were over,

I was introduced to Seiior Candioti, and made
my bow with all the deference due

a potentate.
to so patriarchal
His manners and habits were
primitive; and
his
mode
alike
of carrying himself
towards others was as unostentatious and courteous, as were his claims to superiority in wealth
and
station universally admitted.
This prince of the Gauchos was a prince in

nothing more than in that noble simplicity which
characterized his whole deportment.
He
was too
high in his own sphere of action to fear competition ; too independent to condescend to civility
for
mere personal advantage
and too ingenuous
210
to
CA.NDIOTI,
admit into
his breast a
THE
thought of acting the
hypocrite.
He
continued sitting on his horse, and kept up
a familiar chit-chat with all around. Every now

and then he lighted his cigar by striking fire with
a flint and steel on tinder kept in a polished tip
of horn, which was embossed with silver^ and had
a gold chain attached to
it,
by which the
rather extinguisher, depended, while
As
was in use.
lid,
or
the horn
looked at him I could not but
admire his singularly-handsome face and dignified

mien. His small mouth, and strictly Grecian
nose; his noble forehead, and fine head thinly
strewed with silver locks

eyes,
and countenance
had spent
his days in
his penetrating blue
as hale
and ruddy as
if
he
Norway, instead of riding
over the Pampas, were

for his attire,
all
remarkable.
Then,
according to the style and fashion
was magnificent.
His poncho
of the country,
it
had been made
in Peru, and, beside being of the
richest
ground
material,
in
superb
was embroidered on a white

style.
Beneath it he wore a jacket
of the finest India cloth, covering a white satin

waistcoat, which, like his poncho,
was beautifully
211
ENTRERIOS ESTANC1ERO.
embroidered, and adorned with small gold buttons,

each depending from a
same metal.
He
and front of his
little
had no
link of chain of the
and the
cravat,
shirt displayed,
cambric, the richest specimens
upon
fine
collar
French
of tambouring
which could be furnished in Paraguay.

His
lower vestment was of black velvet, open at the
knees, and, like the waistcoat, adorned with gold
buttons, depending also from
evidently
never
intended
From under
the button-holes.
dress
little
for
links of chain,
connexion with
this part of his
were to be seen the fringed and tam-
boured extremities of a pair of drawers, made

of the fine Paraguay cloth.
They were ample
as a
snow,
Turkoman's trousers; white as the driven

and hung down to the calf of the leg,
show under them a pair of

brown stockings, manufactured in Peru from the
best Vicuna wool.
The potro boots of Seiior
just far
enough
to
Candioti fitted his feet and ankles, as a French

glove fits the hand, and the tops of them were
turned over, so as to give them the air of buskins.
To
unwieldy
these boots were attached a pair of

silver
spurs,
complete his personal
brightly polished.
attire,
the princely
To
Gaucho
CANDIOTI, THE
212
wore a large Peruvian straw hat, with a black

velvet band around it, while his waist was girded
with a rich crimson sash of
silk,
serving the treble
purpose of riding-belt, braces, and girdle for a
huge
knife in a morocco sheath, from which pro-
truded a massive silver handle.
Gorgeous as was the apparel of the

was, if possible, outdone
Here
horse.
all
rider, it
by the caparison of
his
was
silver, elaborately wrought

and curiously inlaid. The peaks of the saddle,
and the complicated head-piece of the bridle,
were
covered with
reins were
the
precious
embossed with
it;
and
metal
the
in the
ma-
nufacture of the stirrups there must have been

exhausted all the ingenuity of the best Peruvian
silversmith, with at least ten
(or virgin silver) to
racter
pounds of plata
work upon.
pifia
Such, in cha-
and person, was Candioti, the patriarch of
Santa Fe.
To
complete the sketch of him, I
must give you some idea of his extraordinary and

successful career in
life
of
how he became
sessed of such a vast extent of territory
how his
flocks
and herds increased
pos-
and
till
they greatly
exceeded in number those of Jacob.
Like him,
Candioti waxed great and went forward, and
213
ENTRERIOS ESTANCIERO.
he became very great; and, like

Abram, he was rich in cattle, in silver, and in
grew
until
gold.
The town
of Santa
Fe was
originally founded
about 1563, by a very intrepid soldier, Juan de

Garay, at the head of only eighty-six men.
The
establishment of a town on that spot was
undertaken by order of Martin Saenz de Toledo,

then governor of Paraguay, and with a view to extending the conquests and increasing the Indian
subjects of Old Spain. In a short time, more than
twenty-five thousand natives from the
Pampas,
Chaco, and other parts, submitted to Garay and
band; and though many of them afterwards dispersed, and the town was subject to frequent attacks and inroads from hostile tribes of
his small
Indians, yet the conquest was maintained, and
the settlement gradually increased in strength
and numbers.
But
it
was not
eighty years that
till
it
within the last seventy or
attained to even
its
present
in
reached
a
importance
way so
Candioti's
in
the
rise
connected with
world, that
;
its traffic,
are,
and
to that
it
wealth, and population, such as they
have run parallel with the fortunes of
its
CANDIOTl, THE
214
patriarch,
and have been
spirit, industry, activity,
essentially
owing
to his
and indefatigable per-
severance.
Having in his youth, with a few mules for sale,

made a short excursion into Peru, at a time
when the mines
of Potosi, and other parts of that
country, were yielding a vast produce, Candioti
saw how inadequate to the demand was the supply

of those useful animals, for the purpose of convey-
ing ores and merchandise, as well as passengers

over a rocky and arid country.
Increasing numbers of
them were
also required for the purpose
of carrying the produce of Paraguay to Cordova,
Mendoza, San Luis, Tucuman,
Salta,
and other
towns.
Returning to Santa Fe, the sagacious speculator and observer invested the ten thousand dolearned by his
lars
trip, in
the purchase of an
estate in the Entrerios, about thirty leagues from
Santa Fe, on the opposite side of the river PaHe determined to give his chief attention
rand.
to the
breeding of mules
From
this time forward
ney
he made an annual jour-
and every year a more sucone than that which had preceded. As
to that country;
cessful
for exportation to Peru.
he returned periodically to
215
he
his native town,
new
estates, contiguous to
the old ones, and in cattle
upon them, the whole

At that period
regularly invested in
profit of his year's adventure.
of superabundance
and indeed up
to a
of land in South America,
much
mode
later period, the
of purchasing an estate was not by paying so
much a
rood, an acre, a mile, or even a league
but simply by paying so much a head for

the cattle upon it, and a trifling sum for the few
for it
fixtures, such, perhaps, as half-a-dozen
mud
huts,
which to shut up the

The general price then paid for each
live stock.
head of horned cattle was two shillings, and for
and as many
corrales, in
each horse sixpence. An estate of five leagues

in length, by two and a half in breadth, that is,
of twelve and a half leagues, might have
upon
it,
generally speaking, about eight thousand head of

horned cattle, and fifteen thousand horses. The
price of
it,
at the above-mentioned rates,
would
be,
For 8000 head of horned

15,000 horses, at
cattle, at 2s.
6d
375
100
Fixtures
Cost, therefore, of the stock
800
and
fixtures
1,275
CANDIOTI, THE
216
leaving the estate of twelve and a half square

leagues, or thirty-seven
and a half square
miles,
as a bonus to the purchaser.
Now,
if it
neys to Peru,
able,
be considered that Candioti's jourbecoming every year more profit-
enabled him at last to buy in the year three
or four such estates as that described above,
it
soon be seen how his landed possessions must
will
have extended
and
plied
"
how
his
horned
cattle, his horses,
mules must have increased and multi-
his
and how the man himself must have waxed
exceeding great."
Many
Fe
other families of Santa
followed, at
a distance, the example of Candioti; and at length
the town came to supply
became, too, the

for the
all
Peru with mules.
emporium and port of
transit
produce of Paraguay destined for Chile,
and Upper as well as Lower Peru

its
It
influence
quisition of
and increased
many
estates
its
and
it
extended
wealth by the ac-
on the Banda Oriental
and Entrerios, where most of the mules
for ex-
portation were bred.

Candioti's
mode
of journeying to Peru with his
annual caravan, and with

mules, was this
five or
six
thousand
having brought them from
his
217
on the east side of the Parana, by making
estates
them swim, under the
direction of
over that vast stream, he

potreros,
many
collected
herds,
them
into
or large paddocks, in the vicinity of
Santa Fe,
he had got together the number
till
he required.
He then
loaded thirty or forty huge
waggons with the merchandise most wanted in

Peru and taking with him, under the guidance
;
of his own vigilant eye, five hundred tame oxen
drawing of these wagthousand mules driven, en
to serve as relays in the
gons, and
his
six
masse, by forty or
fifty
Gaucho
herds, he set his
and commenced his journey

towards Santiago, Tucuman, and Salta, leaving
Cordova to the left. The country, covered with
face to the plains,
grass,
and copiously irrigated by streams, afforded
sustenance for his cattle wherever he chose to
make
halt
and he had
to encounter,
on his jour-
ney, the obstruction of neither ditches nor fences,
any more than he had to incur the expense of a

single farthing for the maintenance of his numerous cavalcade.
Beside his draught bullocks, he
had with him a
sufficient
number
of others for
daily slaughter as he proceeded;
and neither
himself nor his

VOL.
i.
men thought
farther provision
CANDIOTI, THE
218
necessary, than beef, mate, salt, water,
melons.
None
and water-
of these, except the salt and mate,
could be said to cost Candioti anything
The
these were very cheap.
had
and
peons, or herds,
their luxury, equally cheap, of tobacco
but
even that was deducted from their wages.

Whenever the caravan came to a halt, the bulbeing loosed from their yokes, were let out
to pasture on the plain ; the herd of mules too
locks,
and while half the cortege of peons were riding

round and round them, to keep them together,
the other half were busied in lighting fires
upon
the sward, roasting beef, boiling water, eating
melons, or stretching themselves out under the
shade of the waggons, for repose.
At
a given hour the refreshed party was sent
off to relieve the
and beast were
working one; and when man
sufficiently
again marched the
cattle
rested
and
moonlight they travelled from evening
and rested during
ing,
heat
all
till
In fine
morn-
the hours of solar
but when the nights were dark, they neces-
sarily stopped,
sailors say,
cattle,
fed, off
and caravans.
as
kindled their
fires,
and kept,
as
watch and watch over their herds of
wandering at
large,
under the inspec-
219
tion of the peons, they grazed within sight of the
numerous
fires
kindled to prevent their straying
from the spot of encampment.
far
Candioti was of course the presiding genius of the
Sleeping less than any one of his herds,
journey.
he was ever the
last to lie
down, and the
first
at midnight,
and
rise.
He
cattle
kept compactly together.
to
at
invariably got up
some other hour of the night or morning, to see
that the watches were properly relieved, and the
cipline of this moving
The whole
camp was not only
dis-
in ac-
cordance with his own precise regulations,
but
was seldom infringed, because so vigilantly suHe would pardon drunkenness in

perintended.
(upon an apology made
absence, gambling, and even theft; but
a herd, impertinence
for
it),
never was he known to forgive a
man whom he
once caught asleep when he ought to have been
awake.
Some anecdotes
are told of
illustrative of the effect
ual vigilance.
produced by
He came
this habit-
at last to think
it
should be known he slept

and every servant he ever had was ready
sort of disgrace that

at all
him, curiously
to aver that
it
he had never seen his master asleep.
L2
CANDIOTI, THE
220
That
his wife
might not bear testimony against
his being guilty of so great a weakness, Candioti
had always
Two
a bed-room separate from hers.
him by
friends of his endeavoured to take
sur-
prise, by calling on him, the one at two and the

other at three o'clock, on different mornings.
" Senor
Don
Francisco/'
said the
his door, " are
knocked at
was nearly asleep

ertions, he did require a
dioti
"
you asleep
for, in spite
little
first,
of
as
he
Can-
all his
ex-
of that refreshment
but, with ears as quick as those of a hare, the

moment his friend's first tap saluted them, " No,"
replied he,
" I
am
thinking what
it
can be that
keeps that last herd of mules so long after their

time from arriving."
He
instantly struck a light
from his yesquero, or tinder-box,
lit
a candle,
and, with a cigar in his mouth, opened the door

to his friend.
to be seated,
He gave him a cigar, asked him

and without the least remark upon
the hour at which he had called, began to talk as

a matter of course on the topics interesting to
The
both.
logise
"
friend
now thought
it
his part to apo-
but Candioti, cutting him short,
said,
You know, my friend, that it is the same thing

me to receive a visit at two o'clock in the
for
221
morning, as at noon-day; so there is not the

slightest occasion for an apology; pray smoke
your cigar."
The second
friend, at
some
" Sefior
said,
knocked and
interval of time,
Don
Francisco" (that
was Candioti's Christian name), " are you asleep ?"

" Nada de
eso," replied the Prince of the Gau"
chos,
When
v.
pase
his friend
dioti told
him
his horse to
" not at
adelante,"
walked
in,
all,
walk
in."
accordingly, Can-
had just got up to order

be saddled, and that he was going
that he
to the potrero to see if the
mules and peons were
ready for a start the following day.

By his wife Candioti had only one child, a
daughter, and she the heiress of all his property
and
But
progeny was
so numerous, that most of his estancias were
estates.
his illegitimate
managed by one or more of

with him one day when four
not unacknowledged, or
were present.
the
slaves
every
used,
dined
of his natural
dishonoured,
Our dinner was most
and
children
plentiful;
who attended us were numerous
article in the
house where
was made of
salvers,
his sons.
it:
plates,
silver could
forks,
ewers, all were of that ore.
be
dishes,
And
yet
CANDIOTI, THE
222
there was not a carpet in the whole house

chairs were
common rush-bottom
chairs
tables were of deal, not even painted
were stretchers, with hide bottoms
the
the
the beds
curtains to
them, or sashes for the windows, there were neither;
and
the very drawing-room,
in
or sala,
there stood upon a horse-rack the whole of Can-
The
dioti's horse- gear.
patio of his house
was
continually filled with capataces (overseers), call-
or with peons bearing messages,

and leaving or taking away horses.
In his habits of eating and drinking Candioti
ing for orders
was very abstemious. He seldom drank anything but water and mate, and was moderate in
his eating,
plains,
unless
when the
it
were occasionally, on the
irresistible
"
came
con cuero"
was placed before him. He never seemed precisely in his element unless when on horseback,
and he contrived, whether

travels, to pass sixteen
in his favorite
way.
at
home
or on his
hours of the twenty-four
He
smoked and talked
all
day seldom took up a pen, except to write his

signature, and never, even by chance, looked into
;
a book.
priests
He
used to say he knew nobody but
and lawyers who had any business
to
do
223
that
and he was not
owe much of the

in
the
at all sure that
litigation
and
we did not
religious strife
world to the propensity observable in

men to pore over books,
those two classes of
which he believed to be generally
filled
with
legal cavils or polemical controversy.
Yours, &c.
J. P.
224
LETTER
To J
XIX.
ESQ.
Passage from Santa F6 to the Baxada the Baxada de Santa

Malthusian
F6 Journey from Santa Fe to Corrientes
Economy
One
of Candioti's Estancias
the large PartPotros, or
Wild Horses
ridge
the Ostrich
Colts
Branding of Cattle
Taming of
Number of these on
Candioti's
Estancia.
London, 1838.
I PASSED a
month among the Santa Fecinos hos-
pitably entertained, according to
their fashion,
while making observations according to

there was no word of
my
own.
ship, which
my
had left Buenos Ayres some days before me.
But the navigation of the River Parana^ " aguas
Still
arriba," that
is,
little
against the current,
only tedious affair to which those
is
who
not the
will
go
against the current in this world must submit.
The
vessel
had been out
forty days,
and yet
PASSAGE TO THE BAXADA.
225
had not accomplished four hundred
miles, that
is,
not ten miles a day.
As
things began to get monotonous at Santa
Fe, 1 bethought
me
of proceeding on
my journey.
bade adieu to the good and primitive people

of that place; and being provided with fresh
I
letters of introduction, especially
from Candioti
who managed
estates of his
to two of his sons
that lay in
my
route,
costume, and, with
my
ful servant Francisco,
the Baxada.
We
resumed
my
travelling
weather-beaten, but faith-
embarked
in a canoe for
were paddled by
six athletic
Paraguayans out of the riacho or branch of the

Salado on which Santa Fe stands. After gliding over
miles,
it
a distance of about twelve or fourteen
we emerged
Parana.
It
smooth and
into the noble, the magnificent
here about
three miles wide,
clear as crystal,
wooded on the west
is
bank, and confined by precipitous barrancas or

As the Salado comes out becliffs on the east.
low the Baxada, we were obliged to paddle about

three miles
up the stream before we could ven-
ture to cross, without running a risk of being carried
down by the
aimed at making.
current below the point
When we
we
had accomplished
L3
PASSAGE TO THE BAXADA.

this distance
little
above the
of the Baxada, our
site
canoe was at once launched into the middle
of the current
this, as
the paddles,
in rapid
and making, by the impulse of
much way
it
by the impetus of
laterally, as
shot a-head,
and gallant
we
crossed the stream
We
style.
attained, within
half an hour from the time of our
first
standing
over for the Baxada, that precise point.

sailors in the
world could more nicely have
No
cal-
culated, nor with greater precision have executed,

the taking of a port in a skiff, and in the face of
a rapid current, than did the
Paraguayans in
be upset by a
their shell of a canoe, liable to
passenger's
moving a
the right side or the
the
Baxada
little
left.
too
I
much
either to
found the port of
situated at the foot of a very high,
but gently sloping cliff. The town, as distinct

from the port, stands at the top of this cliff, and
hence derives
its
name
"
Baxada de Santa Fe"
It might
(that is, the descent to Santa Fe).
have been called the Golgotha of Cattle for I
found it strewed not only with their skulls, but
;
their carcases.
It
was
slaughter- grounds and
quite
surrounded
by
corrales; or rather, instead
of these surrounding the town, they constituted
THE BAXADA DE SANTA

part of
The ground was soaked
it.
blood of the animals
from large
offal,
and the
effluvia
piles of hides,
factories of tallow, emitted
with the
from their
and from manu-
under the hot rays
sun with tenfold intensity, were
of a burning
nearly insupportable.
those
227
FE.
The
air
over the site of
was almost darkened by birds

Vultures, carrion-crows, and carrion-
corrales
of prey.
gulls, hovered,
around the
skimmed, and wheeled their
carcases of the
slain.
flight
Here were
a dozen clamorous assailants fixing their talons,

and thrusting their curved beaks into the yet
warm
flesh of
an animal, which had yielded its

(all for which it was deemed
hide and tallow

valuable)
matadero.
to
the
Gaucho executioners of the
There, so
many
pigs were contend-
ing for mastery in the revels, and close by, some
ravenous dogs were usurping and maintaining
an exclusive right to the prey.

Ducks, fowls,
turkeys, all seemed to prefer beef to anything
else
and such a cawing,
screaming,
as were
cackling, barking,
and
kept up by the heteroge-
neous family of quadrupeds and winged creatures which were voraciously satisfying the cravI
ings of nature, was never heard out of Babel.
228
JOURNEY FROM SANTA FE TO CORRIENTES.
wended my way
to
the house of the governor
was received with the pompous, yet awkward

decorum of a village chieftain newly elected to
office
got
my
passport signed
and
hours from the time of my landing I

hand- gallop, the carnivorous Baxada.
As
I rode along, post-haste,
at
in
two
left,
at a
the
rate of
twelve miles an-hour, I perceived I had got into

quite a different style of country from that which
intervened between Buenos Ayres and

Fe.
There,
all
Santa
was flat, monotonous, with leagues
upon leagues of ground covered with thistles

eight feet high, and only space enough to ride
through their dense, brown, and interminable
ranks.
Here the country was undulating,
ver-
dant, irrigated by frequently-recurring streams,
and ever and anon, shaded, as well as adorned

by woods of the algarroba-tree. The herds of
cattle
finer,
were much more extensive, the
horses
the peasantry more athletic than on the
western bank of the Parana ; and though there

were not here, any more than there, either fences,
cultivation, or other
signs of
human
industry;
though the thinly- scattered habitations were mere

mud huts, and their half-clothed inhabitants little
MALTHUSIAN ECONOMY.
229
removed from savage life, yet the whole air of

the country was more cheering and exhilarating.
As
I rode over its apparently interminable ex-
tent of hill
and
beauties and
all
dale,
diversified
with
the
all
the riches of nature, I could
not help considering what a magnificent land

it
to
I longed already
must some day become.
see the immense herds of sleek and lowing
cattle
which covered the uninterrupted pastures,
shut up within closer limits, and making way

for the stately city, the busy town, the rural
and the various occupations of the agriI could

culturist, the merchant, and the artizan,
village,
not but stand aghast at the

cal economists,
world
theory of
who would persuade
politi-
us that the
over-peopled, and that a bountiful
is
God
has not provided sufficient means of subsistence

for his
dependent creatures.
How
could I do
otherwise than smile at the fanciful arithmetical

calculations of Malthusian philosophers,
who
tell
us that in a given number of years, a process of

human extermination from want of the necessaries of
life,
must take
place, in order to leave
food and raiment for their given and limited
number of earth's inhabitants ?
ONE OF CANDIOTI'S ESTANCIAS.
230
At
the end of
my
second day's journey, I
reached one of Candioti's best estancias, on the
Arroyo Hondo, or deep
On
alighted for the night.
and there
rivulet;
my
presenting
cre-
dentials from the veteran Gaucho, I
was received
by one of his numerous
with
off- shoots,
overflowing hospitality of the country.
all
He
the
inha-
mud-hut, containing three apart-
bited only a
ments, and forming, with two or three out-houses,
one side of an unfinished square.
and a half of
this square
Another side
was occupied by the
and lowly enough, of the five-andpeons, or herds who superintended the thirty
huts, small,
forty
thousand head of
horses and
little
cattle,
and some
mules on the
estate.
fifty
thousand
Around
this
colony were four most spacious corrales,
or enclosures for the cattle, and one for sheep.
With
" I
Selkirk, Candioti's son
am
ment of
master of
his fine
In his father's
son received
all
Every
said,
linea-
countenance betrayed his
own
me
might have
I survey."
sire.
patriarchal style, Candioti's
at his lowly porch.
The sun
was just setting in the horizon; the numerous

herds were drawing up, and lowing, as
they
came from the water to the corrales; an uncount-
ONE OF CANDIOTl's ESTANCIAS.
231
able flock of sheep was bleating in the distance,

as guided by one herd,
came
they, too,
dogs
and a dozen sagacious
to their place of repose for
the night.
The
feathered tribe of domestic fowls were
cackling to their roost
and the pigeons, wheel-
ing their last flight for the day, were gathering

around the dove-cot. The deep-toned voices of
the herds, as they rode round the cattle, came
undulating on the breeze from afar; while the

plaintive note of the partridge, which
all
around, chimed
harmony of the
Many
in,
abounded
and made part of the rural
close of day.
were the victims destined to furnish
the supper, which Candioti's son

to prepare.
The
carne con cuero
now gave
orders
fatted calf was killed to supply
down from the perch were
brought three pullets, for the olla and the spit
three brace of just-fledged doves were devoted

to the stew-pan
the stake;
a bleating lamb was bound to
"And
now," said the son of Can-
vamos a agarrar unas perdices," " let us

and catch some partridges." You have heard
dioti,
go,
"
of partridges being shot, but
how they
are caught
in those countries, you are perhaps not aware.
ONE OF CANDIOTl's ESTANCIAS.
23*2
We walked
about
five
hundred yards from the
house, followed by two Gauchos on horseback.
Each of them had

Presently
we saw
in his
hand a small whip.
scores of partridges, just peep-
small heads
above the grass.

The Gauchos rode towards the first two they
ing with
their
way down the sides

commenced by describing a
observed, and leaning half

of
their
horses,
pretty large circle around the birds
while these,
with anxious eye, followed the movement.
enchanted partridges became more and

afraid of trying to
Gra-
was lessened, and the
dually the magic circle
make
their escape
more
from
it.
stupified, and the peons closing in

with them, by a sudden and dexterous jerk of
They became
the whip, knocked them on the head.

innocents were then, not bagged
The
little
(because the
Gauchos had no such receptacle for game), but

they were strung, one by one, on a small leathern
thong;
till
six brace, in
being taken in
this way,
about
fifteen minutes,
home we came with
the
sport.
they had come to their
death, not by the legitimate means of powder
and shot, but terror-stricken by a magical spell,
Poor partridges
they were felled by the unexpected blow of a
ONE OF CANDIOTl's
233
ESTAiNCIAS.
In England, beef and mutton
Gaucho's whip.
must be kept a week, and game ten days before

America for
they are eaten. Not so in South
;
the partridges which had been taken ten minutes

before, the fatted calf, the pullet
and the pigeons,
which had bidden adieu to the world that afternoon, were

of cooking
partaken
the
all,
and we found them
of,
excellent.
is
they were
ways under process

two hours afterwards,
in different
all,
How
fact.
this is I
delicate, tender,
do not know
but such
deal table was covered with
a splendidly-tamboured table-napkin
the supper utensils were
of silver;
water glittered in a crystal caraff
most of
sparkling
wine, water-
melons, peaches, honey, and cigars, stood upon

a side-table; ajid after a two hours' repast I
stretched myself
upon a luxurious,
albeit uncur-
tained bed, and slept soundly until the
dawn of
day.
You must
ever, that
not run away with the idea, how-
we were seated
in anything like
an
English dining-room. The floor of our apartment was of mud ; so were the walls. The thatch
of the roof was but too apparent.
corner,
stood
my
bed,
there,
in
Here, in one
another,
lay
ONE OF CANDIOTI'S ESTANCIAS.
234
strewed the cumbrous saddle-gear of three or

four horses.
the water ;
In two large earthen pitchers stood

and the copper-coloured servants that
waited on us were dressed in half-naked Indian
plates,
We
had change of neither knives,

nor forks.
Candioti junior, his head
simplicity.
and the curate of a neighate off the same dish.

The
capataz, or overseer,
bouring capilla,
chairs were antiquated leather-bottomed chairs,
with backs
five feet
high from the ground.
The
door stood open, with half a dozen horses saddled,
and tied to stakes around
it.
No
pic-
tures graced the walls, no sashes, nay, not even

shutters protected
make
the windows, nor did glass
Everything around us,

even our savoury and abundant cheer, bespoke
that we were supping with a nomadic chief.
a part of them-
His welcome was
and hearty;
and herds; and
primitive
wealth consisted in flocks
his
his
domestic arrangements were rough and simple

as the habits of the master.
All bore evidence
of the distance at which
we were from modern
The basin in which,

luxury and refinement.
like the Jews, we washed hands after meals, was
carried round
by a China or Indian female
ser-
235
ONE OF CANDIOTI' S ESTANCIAS.

vant
and a
tall
mulatto taking off
my
boots,
struck the adhesive clay from
them, and put
them down by the
bed, by way of
side of
intimation that this was
the
to
me by
had
to expect in
Just as the day
boots.
way of cleaning my
began
to
all
my
dawn, a mate and cigar were brought

the saddle-gear was
Candioti junior
;
and put on the backs of

several magnificent horses, which stood ready at
and in ten minutes,
the door to be saddled
carried out of the room,
Candioti,
his capataz,
my
servant,
and eight
peons, followed by six large dogs, were mounted,

and ready to ride the round of the estancia, in
order that I might see a

its
little
into the detail of
management, and get an idea of the extent of
its surface.
Off we started, like so
many Arabs, our spirits

The partridge
rising as our horses warmed.
rose whirring from under our feet
and the fawn bounded
off before
ing tirutero, or horned plover,
the antelope
us
the scream-
skimmed the
air
around us; the ostrich started from her eggs,
and with brawny limbs, and outspread wings,

defied the horse's speed.
THE LARGE PARTRIDGE.
236
rose the large partridge*; and here the
Up
No
exhilarating sport of the day commenced.
commenced
sooner had this noble bird

pendicular flight,
*
The
C an dioti junior, and
than
large partridge of South America
plump barn-door
When
fowl.
its
it rises,
per-
every
about the size of a
is
this partridge takes a per-
pendicular flight of about forty yards, and then darts off with prodigious velocity in a direction undeviatingly horizontal.
shot, in this latter direction of its flight (and
When
no sportsman would
attempt to shoot it, till it went thus off before him), it falls with
such a headlong and precipitate impulse, as to make it bound to
some distance from the spot
Of
all
at
which
it first
the shooting I ever saw, grouse
black-cockpartridge
snipe
ptarmigan
touches the ground.
woodcock
in intensity of delight and excitement, to this
He is called, par excellence,
American partridge.
or large partridge.
His scent
your dog comes upon
The
terical.
and
if
it,
is
pheasant
none equal,
of the large South
there
so strong, that
<e
is
perdiz grande,"
from the moment
the agitation of his frame
is all
but hys-
bird before he will rise, runs at a prodigious rate,
your dog, in coming upon him, as an English dog does

traced a covey, should stop and lie down, you would
when he has
never get a shot.
The
bird
natural instinct has told
him
is
off the
moment his quick ears,
or his
his pursuers are near; not off by flight,
but by a race which commences in suspicion and fear, and terminates in absolute precipitation.
So that for the chance of shooting
your bird, you are obliged to encourage your dog to go in upon
him, to follow up yourself the game with uuintermittiug alacrity,
and to pay, with palpitating satisfaction, after perhaps a ten
minutes' run, for the achievement of bringing down, in all his irresistible career of flight, the
goodly prize you have so breathlessly
pursued.
I shipped four of these birds, under the hope of intro-
237
in his train,
put spurs to their horses, leant

down on their necks, hallooed on the dogs and
"
Vamos, Senor Don Juan," said he to me, " atras
peon
de la perdiz
The
:"
"let us be off after the partridge."
horses followed the partridge's flight,
and
almost at his speed the dogs, with loud-tongued

music, followed the horses every man put his
;
hand
to his
tion, till
mouth, in rapid and reiterated mo-
the welkin rang with the loud-mouthed
din of riders and of dogs.

for the
drowned
huntsman's horn
There was no need

it
in the loud, yet not
cert of our hunting-band.
would have been

inharmonious con-
At a quicker pace
than that at which I ever followed the
we
follow the " perdiz grande."
The
fox, did
eagle eyes
Gaucho pursuers were upon him, till after

a flight of about three minutes, they marked him
of the
down.
Up
came horses and dogs,

In a moment, the
they reached it.
to the spot
panting as
scent was taken into the nostrils of the now eager
hounds. The partridge was on the run.
His
ducing the breed into this country: but they lingered, notwithstanding every precaution, in an unhealthy state when they came
into a cold climate, and died in the Channel.
Still I think they
might be introduced, and they would be a very great acquisition

to the
English sportsman.
238
pursuers traced his rapid steps with the certainty

of instinct and as they did so, the riders were
;
kept
at a slow trot.
It
was the " check," so to
speak, in the chase; and as every

bird was
drew
expected again to rise,
and more
close
closely
moment
the
and as the dogs
upon
his track, the
The hounds were
excitement became extreme.
in indescribable agitation: the peons, Candioti
and myself, were breathless under it. Up,

last, flew the frightened, ponderous, and pur-
junior,
at
sued bird.
more
Its second
flight
feeble than the first
was shorter and
more animated be-
came the pursuit of huntsmen and of dogs.

Once more followed up, and once more " marked
down," the partridge took
flight
and then,
like the
to proceed farther,
of
its
pursuers.
it
We
gave
took
fatigue and panting with
its third
weeping
much
stag,
itself into
it
unable
the hands
up, overcome with
fear,
but, being like
other sportsmen, too intent on our

to think
and shortest
own pleasure
we were at
of our victim's pain,
once comforted and pleased to see the

object of
our pursuit, anxiety, and recreation,
dangling,
by a thong, at the saddle-peak of one of the
Gauchos.
We
had taken three brace of
birds,
THE OSTRICH.
when an
ostrich
starting
known
followers;
and
to
Candioti
before us,
junior gave the war-whoop of
Gaucho
239
me
pursuit to his
now
the
intimation of " Vamos, Senor
Don
Off went, or rather flew, the Gauchos ;
bounded away
in their
well-
Juan."
my
steed
company; and we were
now, instead of tracking an invisible bird through

tufted grass, in full cry after the nimble, conspi-
and
cuous,
and angry
game
athletic
eye, towering
flew from us,
and limbs,
The
With
ostrich.
above
all
crest
erect,
herbage, our
by the combined aid of wings
at the rate of sixteen miles an hour.
chase lasted half of that time
when an
Indian peon, starting a-head of the close phalanx
mounted competitors, whirled his bolas*,

with admirable grace and dexterity, around his
of his
head, and with deadly aim flung them over the

*
The
weapon.
bolas, next to the lazo, are the
They
consist of three round
Gaucho's most formidable
heavy
stones,
each about
the size of a large orange, covered with hide, and attached to three
plaited thongs, which diverge from each other, and from a com-
mon
centre, every
thong being about
when thrown with unerring aim,
five feet in length.
These
as they almost invariably are, at
the legs of au animal at his full speed, twist and entangle themselves around them, and bring him with a terrible impulse to the
ground.
The Gaucho then
or kills him.
runs in upon him, and either secures
WILD HORSES.
240
half- running, half-flying,
entangled,
Irretrievably
but now devoted
ostrich.
down came the giant
panting; and being in

an instant despatched, the company of the field
bird, rolling, fluttering,
stripped him of his feathers

girdles,
and
stuck them in their
the plucked and mangled car-
left
case in the plain, a prey to the vultures, which
were already hovering around us.

We now came upon an immense herd of wild
" Now Sefior
and Candioti
junior said,
horses,
Don
Juan, I must show you how we tame a
So saying, the word was given for purof the herd and off, once more, like light-
colt."
suit
ning, started the
Gaucho horsemen, Candioti
and myself keeping up with them. The herd

consisted of about two thousand horses, neighing and snorting, with ears erect and flowing
their
tails,
manes outspread
they flew, affrighted the

scious of pursuit.
moment they were
The Gauchos
usual cry; the dogs were
and
it
was not
till
Off
to the wind.
left in
set
up
we had followed the
bolas at the horse which each
their
the distance;
flock
speed, and without a check for five

that the two headmost peons launched
full
con-
at
miles,
their
had respectively
WILD HORSES.
241
singled out of the herd. Down to the ground,

with frightful somersets, came two gallant colts.
The herd continued
its
headlong flight, leaving

behind their two prostrate companions. Upon
these, the whole band of Gauchos now ran in
;
man
lazos were applied to tie their legs; one
held down the head of each horse, and another

the hind quarters; while, with singular rapidity
and
dexterity, other two
and
bridles on their fallen, trembling,
frantic victims.
This done, the two
had brought down the

they
still
colts,
lay on the ground.
lazos which
at the
Gauchos put the saddles

and nearly
bound
men who
bestrode them as
In a moment, the
and
their legs were loosed,
same time a shout from the
field so fright-
ened the potros, that up they started on all fours,

but to their astonishment each with a rider on
his back, riveted as
controlling
it
were, to the saddle, and
him by means
of
a never-before-
dreamt- of bit in his mouth.
The animals made

surprising
kicked
vault:
now they
they reared,
i.
and
plunged,
started off at full gallop,
anon stopped short

heads between their
VOL.
a simultaneous and most
in
and
their career, with
their
to
throw
legs,
endeavouring
TAMING OF POTROS OR COLTS.
242
their riders.
"
Que ezperanza
"
!
''
vain hope
indeed !" Immoveable sat the two Tape Indians
they smiled at the unavailing efforts of the turbulent and outrageous animals to unseat them ;
and
in less than
mounting,
it
the masters.
an hour from the time of their
was very evident who were to be
The
the Indians never
horses did their very worst,
lost either the security or the
grace of their seats ;
till
most violent
to rid
burthen
the
efforts
two hours of the
after
horses were
themselves of their
so
exhausted, that,
drenched in sweat, with gored and palpitating

sides,
for
and hanging down
five
founded.
move.
his
their heads, they stood
panting and conBut they made not a single effort to
minutes
together,
Then came
more positive
the
G audio's
authority.
turn to exercise
Hitherto he had
been entirely upon the defensive.

was simply to keep his seat, and
horse.
He now
direction.
it
tire
out his
wanted to move him in a given
Wayward,
was his course at

for
His object
first.
zigzag, often interrupted

Still
the Gauchos
made
a given point; and they advanced towards

till at the end of about three hours the now
mastered animals moved in nearly a direct
line,
243
BRANDING OF CATTLE.
and
company with the other
in
subordinate
puesto, or small
horses, to the
establishment on
the estate, to which we were repairing.
When
two horses, which so shortly

before had been free as the wind, were tied to
we got
there, the
a stake of the corral,
and
all
At
man
the slaves of lordly
hope of emancipation was at an end.
the puesto, or small out-house of the estate
we now came, they were busy branding

About a thousand oxen and yearthe cattle.
a large corral, and five or
lings were shut up in
to which
peons with their lazos were tumbling them

over one by one. The moment a Gaucho, apsix
pointed to keep a couple of red-hot brands in

readiness, saw an animal down, up he ran and
stamped upon
indelibly
initials
From
his
hind quarter the
F. C., standing for Francisco Candioti.

that time, wherever the
branded animal
he was claimable by the real owner.

Even his hide, if stripped from him by a thief or
might
go,
marauder, was, unless the brand were cut out, or

overlaid
by an undetected counter-brand,,
liable
When
cattle
to be taken, vi et armis,
by F. C.
or horses are sold, therefore, in order to ren-
M2
244
BRANDING OF CATTLE.
der the sale legal, or the possession secure, the

" contra
marca," or
counter-mark of the pur-
chaser must be affixed over that of the vender.
Thus every animal
sold in South
America
is
sub-
jected at least twice to the ordeal of branding.
mine once bought a horse in

Buenos Ayres, without this precaution; and as
we were riding out one morning, three athletic
of
friend
Gauchos came up
jostled
my
to us.
They unceremoniously
friend off his seat
claimed, and one
of them took possession of the horse, on the plea

of
its
off
having his mark upon
with the animal, saddle,
in vain that
my
aloud
called
While galloping
bridle, and all, it was
it.
unhorsed and discomfited friend
in
his
Anglo-Spanish
dialect
"
Toma
Cavallo, but spera, spera the saddello."
"
Take
the horse, but leave, do leave
saddle."
The
the horse
me
the
saddle was five times the value of
but
my
friend never afterwards
saw
saddle, Gaucho, or horse.
puesto from which we now set out, to

return home, was distant about three leagues
The
from Candioti's house.

five
on
this
one
Of such
puestos, he
had
estate, of which the extent was
NUMBER OF CATTLE ON
CANDIOTl's ESTATE. 245
about thirty-six square leagues; that is, four

leagues in front, by nine in depth. The number
of tame cattle (de rodeo) upon
thousand, and of
twenty-five
cattle,
about
puted
at forty thousand.
The
six or eight.
it
was about
wild,
alzado
or
horses were com-
Of the tame
cattle,
the
proprietor could slaughter one-fourth in the year,
and
go on increasing
still
The mode
The
singular.
his stock.
of slaughtering the wild cattle
is
animals retire into the woods to sleep
moonlight
nights,
number
of
and on
come
peons
upon them, as they lie on the grass, stab

them on the spot, and leave them till next day.
quietly
The peons then

carry
away
were,
at
its
return
tallow
the time
flay the animal,
and
value; and so the carcase was
on which
it
was
slain, to
vultures and wild dogs.
These alone
skin.
of which
and
speak,
left
of any
on the spot
be devoured by the
Of
the latter there are
large droves constantly scouring the country in
search of food, which they generally get in the
woods, or in the vicinity of the corrales.

Returning to the house of Candioti junior, to
dinner,
once more partook of his abundant
DINNER AND
246
hospitality
and
SIESTA.
after sleeping a siesta, for
which
both the dinner and the fatiguing sports of the
day were an excellent preparation, I started, in

the" cool of the afternoon, once more on my jour-
ney
to
Paraguay.
Yours, &c.
J. P.
R.
247
LETTER XX.
To J
Route from Santa Fe
and Plate
mocks
to Corrientes
ESQ.
the Rivers Paraguay, Parana
Solitude of so fine a country
Ham-
Corrientes
Females of Corrientes.
London, 1838.
CORRIENTES
and
sixty
latitude.
is
distant from Santa
leagues, and
The
is
Fe a hundred
situated in 27
huts,
30' south
at which
you
change horses, are at the distance of five leagues
from each other; the horses are excellent; the
post-office
more expeditiously than on

of the river and many of the post-
relays are obtained
the west side
houses are estancias, where the fare
is
always
abundant, and the hospitality invariable.
On
the whole route, between the Bajada and Corrientes, there are only
and Santa Lucia,

rium
for hides,
two small
villages,
Goya
the one a considerable empo-
and the other a small Indian
establishment containing about two hundred inhabitants,
and superintended by a curate and
THE RIVERS PARAGUAY,
248
two
I rode into Corrientes at
friars.
the sixth day from that of
The town
jada.
is
noon of
leaving the Ba-
my
beautifully situated at the
very confluence of the rivers Parana and Paraguay, which are both here magnificent. The
former river, having its source in the southern
part of the Brazilian province of Goyaz, flows
down from
it
latitude 18
still
south,
runs, by numerous tributary
uninterrupted
in
course
its
increased, as
springs.
It
is
by any obstacle
by that formidable one,

Grande*, which in latitude 24,
to navigation, except
called the Salto
with a noise and tumult, heard
dashes
many
miles
off,
foaming mass of water over rocks, preand chasms of the most stupendous cha-
its
cipices,
Resuming after this

the wide and glassy Parana,
racter.
both
sides,
down
its
its
placid course,
richly
and navigable by small

salubrious
sarsaparilla,
till,
wooded on
vessels,
pours
impregnated with
waters
at Corrientes,
it
forms
its
junc-
From that point

go under the name of the
tion with the river Paraguay.
the two rivers joined
one river Parana, the
latter
though erroneously, below

*
The Great Waterfall,
being, sometimes,
this,
literally,
considered the
the Great Leap.
PARANA, AND PLATE.
249
The Parana discharges

parent stream.
into the Kiver Plate, by several mouths
itself
by
that of the Parana" Guazu, at which point the
waters of the Uruguay also
rana Mini, lower down
Palmas,
of the Pa-
and of the Parana de
nearer to
still
fall in
las
Thus
Buenos Ay res.
formed, the mighty Rio de la Plata pours
its ac-
cumulated waters into the Atlantic ; and although

its mouth at the two
opposite capes of Santa
Maria and San Antonio

miles wide,
it
one hundred and
is
fifty
does no more than correspond to
the grandeur of the inland navigation.
From
14
its
source, in
south,
Parana
till
Matto Grosso, latitude
its
at Corrientes, the river Para-
guay has already run a course of
From
Miles.
confluence with the
1200
Corrientes to Buenos Ayres, the
distance measured by both these streams
under the one name of the Parand.
While from Buenos Ayres
is
750
to
Capes St.
Antonio and Maria, the combined waters
of the Paraguay, Parana, and Uruguay,
united under the one
name
of River
'
Plate, run a farther distance of

*
Making
a total course of
'
*.'
<
v
.
M3
200
2150
250
SOLITUDE OF SO FINE A COUNTRY.
including the windings, which are often of a very
sweeping kind.
Of this immense
tract of water, fifteen
hundred
miles are navigable by vessels drawing ten
The
river
abounds with
The pexerey
source.
fish
from
its
mouth
feet.
to its
(king's fish), the dorado,
and many others,

banks are for the most part
mullet, pacu (a sort of turbot),
are found in
it
its
richly studded with wood ; its various islands are

adorned with beautiful shrubs, evergreens, creepers,
&c.
the woods abound with game, and the
The
adjacent country teems with cattle.

are highly salubrious
banks of the
river,
Great Chaco,
is rich
degree
tages;
been
the
soil
along the
with the exception of the
and
fertile in
but notwithstanding
notwithstanding that
for three
all
waters
hundred years
all
the highest
these
the
advan-
country has
in the possession
European nation; after I had galloped two hundred and eighty leagues, I did not
see above four or five small towns.
Not more
of a civilized
than a like number of vessels were to be descried
on
my
route, while at every fifteen miles distance
a miserable hut, with
its
was alone interposed
to relieve the
half-dozen inhabitants
monotony of
CORRIENTES.
251
Prom this charge you may except, as

would
oasis in the desert, the relaxation
the
you
afforded by my residence at Santa Fe, and by my
the scene.
day's good living

estancia.
The
and rural revelry
at Candioti's
secret of all the silence, solitude,
and abandonment of Nature
to herself
which
saw and lamented, is of course to be traced to the

inadequate means which have hitherto been used
to provide even a semblance of the population
necessary to cover a country of such vast fertility
and extent.
When
which
is
reached Corrientes,
there the dinner-hour, I proceeded to
the house of
whom
from his
just at noon,
M. Perichon, a Frenchman,
had brought a
sister,
Madame
for
letter of introduction
O' Gorman, the favourite
of the Viceroy Liniers.

I
found that the lady had procured for her
brother the appointment of post-master general

of the province, and that he was, as such, no
small personage in Corrientes.
ception, however, of a
With
the ex-
huge quantity of
snuff,
that bestrewed the post-master general's upper

lip,
and gave a Lundyfoot tinge
to all that region
of his countenance, together with the remains of
252
CORRIENTES.
a Parisian bow, I could discover nothing that

distinguished
my
him from the Correntino.
travelling cortege
house, and
sister, I
As
drew up
I delivered
my
the time of
insupportable.
my
Not
cordiality.
M. Perichon's house be-
came, for the time being,
streets
front of the
credentials from his
was received with the utmost
a matter of course,
At
in
When
my
own.
arrival, the
heat was
all
but
a soul was to be seen in the
of loose and burning sand.
The
cows,
which wander up and down these streets during

the morning and evening, were melting under the
seeking shelter from the sun on the shady

side of the tall prickly-pear hedges, which enclose
trees, or
the gardens or folds
The
fowls
ing
among
the branches.
mosquito was
air
attached
and other feathered
still;
to
the houses.
tribes were pant-
Even
the buzzing
and the only tenant of the

I was
butterfly.
abroad was the restless
nearly dead from thirst and heat, and covered
with dust from top to
toe.
dismounted, hung down their
bathed in sweat.
The
horses as
we
heads, and were
They breathed hard and
fast,
showing every symptom of thorough exhaustion.
The houses
in Corrientes (especially the better
CORRIENTES.
class of
them) are built with
corridors,
253
lofty
and capacious
and upon a considerable
elevation.
The
inhabitants have thus both shade and air;
and
it
will take
who have been

these are.
no persuasion to convince those

in hot climates, what luxuries
But these luxuries are enjoyable in

early in the morning, and after
summer only very
From
ten o'clock,
the houses are shut
up and dark-
siesta-hours in the evening.
A.M.
till
five P.M.,
ened as much as possible, in order to exclude the

burning air, and glare of light which then prevail.
A little
mitigation
is
thus procured of the
intense heat of that part of the day.

in their hours of retirement, throw
dress, all restraint;
Expecting no
mony
their
if
and
visitants,
all effort as
The family,
off,
as regards
regards work.
and not standing on
cere-
they come, the inmates of the house doff
upper garments, and walk about, the women

and petticoat, with a loose kerchief
in a chemise
about the neck; the
men
an open-breasted
shirt and trousers, the sleeves of the former rolled
in
up to the elbows. They either swing in their

hammocks, walk in listlessness, or flap themselves
with fans made of straw.
At the house of the post-master general, I found
254
CORRIENTES.
the inmates
the great
down
all cloistered after this
room
to dinner
in
fashion
and
which they were about to
had
out from under the
to
me, who had
just
fiery rays of the sun,
appearance of total darkness.

folding-door, which conducted
all
But the
sit
come
the
large
the patio,
into
shaded with orange-trees, having been partially

opened,
my eyes
and there they
recovered their powers of vision

fell
on a domestic
circle of, to
me, a truly primeval appearance. M. Perichon,

who had entered before me, was reading my
letter,
On
with a half-naked child on either arm.
the estrada, or raised part of the
vered with a straw mat, sat three

I afterwards
floor,
ladies,
co-
whom
found to be his wife, and two
sisters-
With
a child
in-law, one married, the other not.
on his arm, Perichon's brother-in-law, a remarkably gigantic and fine figure, walked about the
room.
and
A female mulatto slave,
features,
of beautiful form
was rocking a cradle, in which a

and three other slaves
baby was sobbing aloud
were bringing in dinner, and laying
it
on an un-
wieldy timber-table, covered, however, with a rich

cotton cloth of the country manufacture.
A large
earthen jar of water, and abundance of horse fur-
CORRIENTES.
niture, stood in a corner of the
255
room
several
mate
cups, a bottle of aguardiente (spirits), and wineglasses were on a side-table
smoking, and
was once more
and by the
all
all parties
were in family
cordially
had been
I
dishabille.
welcomed by Perichon
ladies with a profusion of compli-
ments, of which I understood not more than
half.
For here, the language of the aborigines, or Guaranis,
has superseded, in a great measure, the
Spanish, and, excepting the better classes of men,

few speak that language with either fluency or
propriety.
it
The
females almost invariably speak
with difficulty and dislike, preferring
much
the
Guarani idiom, in which they are very eloquent.

It is accompanied, however, with a tone and
twang which render it anything but musical.

Dinner was a little delayed I refreshed myself with copious ablutions and libations, and sat
:
down
to the usual
sumptuous and abundant
" en
quite
famille"
The custom
instead of dressing for dinner,
and
it;
this
to undress for
any one wishes to know how much

breach of the European custom is better
if
than the observance,

in
is
fare,
in Corrientes,
26 latitude, and
a summer's noon.
sit
him go to a country
down there to dinner, o.f
let
256
HAMMOCKS.
After dinner followed the
siesta,
of being here slept, as in Santa
Ayres,
on a bed,
it is
woven of
is
fine cot-
eight feet long, five in breadth,
the middle
admit the
enjoyed in a magnificent
is
This hammock
hammock.
ton
which instead
Fe and Buenos
worked with
is
air at
and
in
stitches so large as to
every aperture.
It is
gorgeously
round the edges and it is hung so

fringed,
A silken
as to subtend an angle of the room.
all
cord or ribbon
is
put into your hands
by the
pulling of which you swing at a curve as ample

as you please.
You
soon
fall
asleep,
and sink
atmosphere in which
Then, when you awake, comes the
into oblivion of the melting
you
cigar
are.
and the mate, or the
handed
to you, while yet in
female domestic.
particularly
is
The
handsome
They are
your hammock, by a
coffee.
female mulatto slaves are
in Corrientes
their dress
as white as snow, simple as their habits,
after providing for decency, is airy
compliance with the
The bosom
is
and
demands of the
and
light, in
climate.
merely covered by a chemise and

aid of stays, is
it, without the
;
the contour of
exhibited simply by this chemise being tied round

the waist by a gaily -coloured band.
Slaves and
FEMALES OF CORRIENTES.
257
the lower class of white females go
without shoes or stockings

feet
and ankles scrupulously clean
process they are materially aided

soil
and
in this
by the sandy
of their native land, and by the springs and
brooks which intersect

are
invariably
they keep their small
left
it.
The
well-turned arms
bare nearly from the shoulder down-
and the long dark hair is simply braided

back from the forehead and gathered up with a
wards
comb behind.
This
addition to
when the women go
manta, or
it,
scarf, still of
which, being pinned
head,
is
loosely
is
the house-dress.
out,
white cotton cloth,
to the hair
The
is
and
on the top of the
crossed at the bosom, and
left to
hang
on the body.
Yours, &c.,
J. P.
K.
258
LETTER XXI.
G
To J
Entrance into Paraguay
ESQ.
Character of the Country
Hospitality
Don Andres Gomez
The Cottage
of Leonardo Vera.
Paraguayan
The Scotch
Serjeant
London, 1838.
AFTER having
much
received as
hospitality from
the inhabitants of Corrientes as I had from those
of Santa Fe, I bade adieu to the household of

Perichon, and to a whole posse comitatus of his
both lay and clerical. I crossed that

evening the Parand at the Paso del Rey slept
at Curupaiti, and early next morning entered the
friends,
village of
the
Neembucu.
commandant and
pitality.
friends
Here
was received by
curate with the usual hos-
Both became subsequently my intimate

and some specimens of the correspond-
ence of the former, which we preserve, are such rare
models of epistolary
style, in their
merit a place in print.
You
tion of one or two of the
we can
find
room
shall
way, as well to
have a transla-
com andante's
for them.
letters, if
ENTRANCE INTO PARAGUAY.
Neembucu
is
the
first
259
establishment or coman-
dancia to which, on the line of road that

velled,
you come
in
Paraguay.
country, properly so called
was now
hemmed
I tra-
in the
by the
river Paraguay on one hand, and by the Parana
on the other. As I proceeded onwards to Assump;
in
tion, just skirting the territory of the Missiones,

till I
crossed the river Tibiquari, in
26
lat.
30', I
soon recognised a striking difference between the

character of the country in which I
that of any part over which I
was, and
had hitherto travelled.
The open Pampa was exchanged

grove
now
for the
shady
the pastures, protected by the trees, and
irrigated
by abundant streams, were
places beautifully green
in
most
the palm-tree was a
frequent occupant of the plain
hills,
and more
gently- sloping eminences, contrasted beautifully
Wooded
with the valley and the lake.
and slopes exhibited

forest-tree, and anon the less-
base to the top, those
now the
stately
from the
hills
aspiring shrub, the lime, and the orange, each
bearing,
fruit.
at the
The
and offered
same time, both blossom and
fig-tree
its
spread
delicious
its
fruit
broad dark
leaf,
to the traveller
without money and without price
while the pa-
260
CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY.
rasite plant lent all its variety of leaf
to adorn the scene.
many
and
flower
Pendent from the boughs of

and yet more
of the trees was to be seen,
distinctly
known by
fragrance, the air-plant.
its
Squirrels leaped, and
the branches
monkeys chattered among

the parrot and parroquet, the
pheasant, the moigtu, the toocan, the
humming-
bird, the guacamayo or cockatoo, and innume-
rable others described
inhabited, in
gaudy variety of plumage, the woods
their
all
by Azara,
through which
There
I rode.
one noble bird which tenants them,
is
that I never elsewhere saw, except on the lake or
on
its
That bird
banks.
is
the pato real, or royal
duck, nearly the size of a goose, but of plumage

rich
wild
and
varied.
fowl,
On
snipes.
The
lakes
are covered with
the marshes with water-hens
and
the pasture-grounds you have the
large partridge, and on the cultivated enclosures,

in great
As
abundance, the small one, or quail.
pursued
my
journey through a country

and so highly adorned
so substantially favoured,
was glad to meet with much more

frequent traces of cultivation and industry than
were to be found in the solitary tracts over which
by Nature,
PARAGUAYAN HOSPITALITY.
I
had
heretofore
my
sped
261
monotonous
way.
Whitewashed cottages often peeped from among

the trees, and around them were considerable
of the cotton, yucca, and tobacco plants.
fields
The Indian
corn and sugar-cane were also fre-
quently to be seen in the vicinity of farm-houses

of a better character than the cottages
and there
was abundance of wood, and of the prickly-pear.
With
the latter the cultivated country, as well as
the potreros or paddocks, were invariably well

fenced.
I
was much struck by the amazing simplicity
and urbanity of the
inhabitants.
At the
first
cottage at which I stopped for the night (and
was one of the better

for a little water.
It
was brought to
earthen jug by the master of the house,

in the
most respectful
hand, while I drank.

quested him
to
my
to
me
in an
who
stood
attitude, with his hat in
It
was
be covered
remonstrance
it
class), I asked, as I alighted,
and
in vain that I re-
he would not
I saw, in the course of
the evening, that his male children were

to a similar observance.
spectfully crossed their
listen
all
trained
The female ones
re-
arms over their bosoms,
as they waited on either their parents or strangers
while they ate
and drank.
DON ANDRES GOMEZ.
262
Here, as in Corrientes, among the class to

which my hospitable landlord belonged, the Spanish language was
little
and reluctantly spoken
by the men, and by the women scarcely at all.

It had been almost superseded by the Guarani.
Most
ashamed
of the latter were
deficiency in Spanish
to
show
their
while the former had a
great aversion to express inadequately and awk-
wardly in that language what they could so

fluently and even rhetorically do in their own.
Like
all
primitive languages, the Guarani
is
sus-
ceptible of a great deal of metaphorical embel-
lishment.
me now a young genGomez, whom I had ap-
I had, fortunately, with
tleman of the name of
as supercargo to my ship,
pointed at Buenos Ayres
and who, after a tedious navigation of two months,
me at Corrientes. From thence he came

with me in the capacity of travelling companion,
joined
and guide.
interpreter,
sumption
He
was a native of As-
of a good family there
well educated ;
a thorough master both of the Spanish and Guarani

acquainted with the customs and manners
;
of his countrymen,
pioneer
me
and therefore
well qualified to
into a remote land, deserving cer-
but hitherto (I
tainly of observation,
mean
at the
THE COTTAGE OF LEONARDO VERA.

time of my
going to
first
tish subject.
it)
unvisited by any Bri-
must except, indeed, the
263
visit to it
of a Scotch serjeant, who, having deserted from
General (now Lord) Beresford's army, had forgotten, when I first saw him, his mother-tongue.
He
was never able
to acquire either the Spanish
or the Guarani, so he
fused
head,
in his con-
compounded,
and uttered with a
stammering
tongue, a jargon of four languages (English,

Scotch, Spanish,
telligible,
after
and Guarani), and was just infrequent repetitions, stammerand
ings, circumventions,
To
return to the cottage, at which I was
sojourning, I will give

its
elucidations.
you a description of
inmates, and leave you
The Paraguayans
"ex
it
now
and of
hoc discere omnes"
are full of urbanity
and the
following anecdote will illustrate, in some measure, this fact.
They had,
of course, a great prejudice against
the English as a nation, not only from their

"
heretics," but from their
having besieged
Montevideo, of which a considerable portion of
being
the garrison was composed of Paraguay troops.
The kind
host,
by
entertained, having
whom
made one
was so respectfully
of the
Paraguayan
264
detachment which defended that
knowing
be an Englishman, and desiring his family
to be made acquainted with the fact, and yet
me
fortress,
to
unwilling to let
suspect he was speaking of
in the following
me, did
it
there
no term
is
me
for
way
In the Guarani
Englishman; and those who
speak that language designate him, therefore, by

the Spanish synonyme, " Ingles."
was aware that
if
Now, my host
he made use of
this
word,
should necessarily infer that he was talking of

He therefore told those around him, in
me.
Guarani (and thus avoided the use of the word

"
Ingles"), that I was a countryman of those who
threw balls into Montevideo. This I learnt afterwards from
I
my
had been
by a singular
interpreter
struck, as I
Gomez.
approached the house,
erection immediately near
it.
The
trunks of four palm-trees, about fifteen feet in

height, were driven as stakes into the ground, at
which constituted a square of about

Between each palm-tree was an
twenty feet.
intervals
intermediate post
rafters which
Over
this
of equal height, supporting
formed the frame-work of the
roof.
were spread coarse straw mats of Indian
manufacture.
The
place
had the appearance of
265
a high stage, and there was connected with
it
long ladder, reaching from the ground to the roof.
We
supped plentifully upon milk, yucca-root,

honey, and a full-grown lamb, roasted entire. Immediately after supper, the numerous family of
our host came up to him, and raising their closed
hands, in the attitude of prayer, said in Guarani,
" Your
father." The old man moved
blessing,
my
his hand, so as to describe with

cross,
and said
"
cession,
nine children, of
two
the figure of a
to each of his offspring in suc-
God bless
ter," as the case
you,
my
might
be.
whom
"
son," or
He
my
daugh-
had a family of
the oldest, a fine young
might be twenty-
as fair as a European,
woman,
it
and the youngest, a
Paraguay Gaucho,
about eight. They did the same afterwards to
their mother, and received from her a similar
;
benediction.
Great was
little
my
delight in
seeing
by the children of modern days,

patriarchal homage to their parents and not
realized,
was
my
surprise,
this
less
when immediately afterwards
saw them mounting, one by one, up the steep

ladder to the top of the stage, and there, after
unloosing their slender garments, lying down to
repose for the night.
VOL.
I.
Gomez
told
me
N
that u-e
266
were to sleep up there

quitos,"
"
too,
para evitar los mos-
"in order to avoid the mosquitos
;"
and no sooner had he informed me that they

never rose so high as the roof of the stage, than I
mounted with an alacrity not easily conceivable,
but by those who have been martyrs to the blishum of those

tering attacks and tormenting
While we
insatiable insects.
door,
we had
suffered not
sat at the cottage-
little
from their
and been annoyed by their constant and

teazing buz about our ears. Mirabile dictu No
bites,
sooner had
attained the enviable eminence,
where now, outstretched in sound repose, lay the

good man's family, than not a single mosquito or
any other kind was to be felt.

came Gomez up came the host and his wife
Up
insect of
came
three peons
der.
The
and, finally,
up came the
up
lad-
horses wanted for the morning were
fastened to stakes, and eating their pasture near
the house ; the cattle were in the corral, the sheep

too; the cocks
and hens were
all at roost;
the
dogs lay outstretched, like so many watchmen,

the doors
asleep, but, zmlike them, on the alert
;
of the house were
all left
of the cool air of the night
open
;
for the
admission
there were no thieves
267
abroad, but one or two of the yaguars, not bold
enough to approach this family colony and just as

the half-moon was beginning to shed her faint but
;
soft
beams upon the
forth, the
trees,
whole family,
and the
stars to shine
stran-
wife, children,
gers, servants, cattle, dogs, and fowls of the rural

and really patriarchal Paraguay swain, sunk into
repose under the blue canopy of heaven. The
good company thus outstretched beneath the pale

moon, consisted of
the Paraguayan's children, in
number
postilion
of their father and mother
Gomez, myself, servant, and

and of peons
of
in all eighteen
4
3
accommodated, without the aid of
bed or bedding, on twelve yards' square of

wicker-work, covered with a mat, and at an ele-
either
vation of fifteen feet above the level of the ground.
Only think of people sleeping thus

man's country-house in England
at a gentle-
The
first
for a general
clarion of the cock
was the signal
rubbing of eyes, and turning from
There was no folding of

little more
sleep, and a little
one side to another.

the arms for " a
more slumber."
The
family-party had gone to
N2
268
rest at eight,
and they were now
There was no
time
that was
afterwards.
toilet
to rise at five.
preparation
at the
managed
Down went
made
brook
the ladder,
the no-longer recumbent members
at this
five
hours
down went
of the family
and strangers too lowing from the corral went

forth the cattle, and bleating from their fold the
;
sheep
the cocks crowed ; the dogs frisked
young women went
the
to milk the cows, the
young
and Gomez and my-
men
to saddle the horses
self,
with our servant and postilion, to see our
put in order.
travelling equipments
moment
In
one
a scene of the deepest repose was con-
verted into one of the most stirring bustle and

rural activity.
milk,
and a
We took our mate,
cigar,
and
in less than
the time of our waking,
warm
an hour from
we were once more
We
route for Assumption.
a jar of
first,
en
however, bade
a hearty and grateful adieu to our exemplary

had never seen the man before he
host.
We
knew nothing
of me, but that I belonged to a
hostile nation, that not
invaded his country
and my
suite
upon
many
years before
had
and yet he entertained me

principles
of open-handed
hospitality which, scorning the notion of reward,

were only
satisfied
by the giving of
his
269
own and
of his children's personal and respectful attend-
ance upon his guests.

I found
case.
try,
and while
it
Nor was
this a partial
the same, throughout the coun-
I cannot, in justice to its single-
hearted inhabitants, but state this general

I can
less, in
honour of the particular host

his name.
had just parted, withhold

was Leonardo Vera.
from
It
still
whom
fact,
Yours, &c.
J. P.
R.
270
LETTER
G
To J
The Ants and
their
Pyramids
there
XXIT.
,
Approach
ESQ.
to
Assumption
Arrival
Doctor Bargas.
London, 1838.
JOURNEYING onward
to
Assumption, we emerged
one morning from a dark forest into a more open

country, covered with palm-trees.
was much
surprised to observe that mingling with these,
and almost
in equal numbers, rose thousands of
conic masses of earth, to the height of eight
and
ten feet, and having a base of nearly five in dia-
meter.
My
when, on approaching these earthen pyramids, I found that

they were not only tenanted by myriads of the
surprise
increased
small black ant, but were the colossal workmanship of that

to
investigate
diminutive insect.
the
and curious republics,

ascertain
Dismounting,
economy of so many vast
the nature
first
of the
endeavoured to
substance out of
THE ANTS AND THEIR PYRAMIDS.
271
which were constructed their Babylonish temples.
They were
rains,
obviously impervious to the heaviest
and could not be shaken by the strongest

No water appeared ever to have
hurricane.
no lightning ever to have scathed

Yet they were masses of mere clay. I
penetrated,
them.
endeavoured, with
strong gaucho knife, to
my
dig into one of them.
might as well have
attempted to penetrate, with
My companion,
Gomez,
had not
word
said a
evidence from
my own
the flinty rock.
willing to surprise me,
nor, in
it,
my
eagerness for
senses of the nature of so
curious a
itself to
phenomenon as that which presented

my view, had I asked him any questions.
But the moment
attempted to dig into the

" Senor
he
smiled, and said,
impenetrable mass,
I
" Believe
Robertson, es devalde."
in vain."
He
those obelisks
and
then proceeded to
me
tell
it
me
is
in
that
had been there from time imme-
aught he or anybody else

knew, they might be antediluvian.
Though
morial,
that, for
neither antiquary nor geologist, this story excited
me
the more closely to examine the structure of
those venerable piles
and the more nearly I

was my wonder ex-
inspected them, the more
272
On
cited.
the apex of the cone, there was an
oval basin, from which diverged about thirty
aqueducts, intended, evidently, to carry off
the water which might
fall
upon the
pile.
all
Be-
tween those conductors, from the base to the top

of the structure, were innumerable perforations.
There were pouring out of them, at one side, and

into them at another, myriads of busy ants.
Those which went in were
all
top-heavy with
their unwieldy loads of leaves, grass,
seed
and grass-
those which issued were speeding in search
of more of the same material, which they had, on

trip,
deposited in the great and com-
mon emporium
of the public wealth within the
a previous
pile.
No
doubt as to the way, no intermission
as to the labour, embarrassed a single
member
of
Sometimes a huge burthen of

straw, or part of the leaf of a palm-tree, would fall
the community.
from the back of
its
bearer
but in a moment
it
was replaced by half-a-dozen out-coming and

The sturdy porter
unencumbered labourers.
then proceeded, as before, to his place of destination, staggering under the unwieldy heap which
pressed upon his shoulders.
I
next proceeded to trace the various paths
273
which led to and from the clay towers.
These
paths intersected
and
literally cut
up the whole
They were thronged with coming and

country.
going multitudes, in each individual of which, the
one predominant anxiety seemed to be haste.
But their excursions were not confined to soil.
Every palm-tree was indented in half a dozen

places with their footsteps, and both the fruit
and the leaf of the
reached
till
stately plant (neither to
you reach
ous elements of the
its
traffic
be
top) were conspicu-
of the busy inhabitants
of the pyramids below.
Azara has mentioned,
work on Para*
in his
guay, that he encountered similar masses of earth
by the ants, but so soft, that his horse

having come unawares upon one of them (it must
raised
of course have been at night), he not only
demo-
lished the heap, but sank with his fore-legs into
the abyss beneath
it.
He
was
travelling,
how-
ever, along the coast, and upon marshy ground.
was a good way from the coast, and in the midst

of a country, in which the clay is very remarkable
I
for its
hardness and consistency.
stinctively
all
knowing themselves
The
ants, in-
to be subject to
the inclemencies of the weather, do also in-
N3
2/4
APPROACH TO ASSUMPTION.
stinctively
select
for
their
buildings the very
hardest and most impervious parts of the clay
immediate
in their
vicinity.
Not
only so
but,
as wise master-builders, they interweave this clay
manner with
in such
millions of bits of the bark
of the palm-tree, as to constitute that durable
and impenetrable mass, of which
have spoken.
Let any one examine the consistency of the swalthe curious, complicated, and elegant
low's nest,
workmanship of the wren's
and
in reference at
once, to the habitation of the swallow, the wren
and the
Roman
We
he
ant,
"
sage,
came
sumption
be ready to exclaim with the

Deus anima brutorum."
will
As-
at last within four leagues of
and
at this point of our journey
we
caught a glimpse of the majestic Paraguay, winding
its
silvery
land, which
it
and expanded course through the

at once enriches and adorns.
Pre-
sently, we were shut out from the open country,

and wended our way through a road, embanked
on either side to the height of twelve
feet.
It
was over- arched by the wood which met and

twined its branches on one and the other bank
of the cool and shaded
pathway.
Down
from
innumerable springs in the banks on each side
275
of the road gurgled the limpid water
not a ray
of the sun could penetrate our retreat
and as
the panting hart, after hot pursuit by the hounds,
we
luxuriates in the stream, so
rejoiced in the
deep and refreshing shade provided for us by

the cool and sylvan passage through which we
now bent our course
to the capital.
proaches (or passes, as they
All the ap-
may more properly
be styled) to Assumption are of this kind. They

were originally made with a view to defence against
the frequent and hostile inroads of the Indians
and these
defiles
may be easily guarded by men
with muskets in their hands, against any
number
All danger from such inroads
of the aborigines.
having now subsided, the approaches to the
city
serve only as the cool and grateful passages by
which travellers enter
it,
or the rural inhabitants
carry their loads of vegetables,

for the
ants
supply of the capital.
fruit,
we met or overtook hundreds,
Some were on
foot
and meat
Of such
inhabit-
chiefly females.
others bestrode asses
some
drove horses and mules, with panniers before
them
and those of a higher
station
had a
clumsy horse- cart, which by great exertion, and

after many lingering pauses, they drove through
276
the deep ruts of sand, which constituted the one

single
pathway of foot-passenger, horseman, and

It was something more than picturesque
vehicle.
to see the elegant, lightly -clothed female, with
her
full bust,
and smaller
roundly-turned arms, small hands,

feet, short petticoat, embroidered
braided hair, and black
eyes, pursuing
her course of industry, either with a pitcher of
tepoi,
water, a bundle of tobacco, a load of salt, or a
parcel of the yucca-root on her head.

in
Clothed
pure white, she glided, like a sylph, through
the green foliage.
It
was a very
fairy sort of
scene.
After a ride through these shady lanes of

twelve miles, I entered Assumption with
enthusiasm of a
man
all
introduced, for the
the
first
time, into a country of such apparent Arcadian
and happiness. The imagery of my

mind was, no doubt, a little subdued after a
simplicity
month's acquaintance with the people.
ne veut rien
never forget
dire.
;
My
first
impression
Mais
I shall
nor can I believe but that the same
glowing imagery arises always to our view, upon

our first visit, in youthful days, to a new country.
What
romantic portraitures have we not
ARRIVAL AT ASSUMPTION.
277
had drawn even of the Esquimaux

Novelty
and contrast have charms which are quite irresistible, till they come to fade before the
chilling
!
She throws a phlegmacoldness over our estimate of men and things
influence of experience.
tic
and, while she enlarges the sphere of our philo-
sophy, she narrows the circle of our warmer affections,
and more glowing
associations.
alighted, in Assumption,
Dr. Bargas.
at the
He
was a doctor
at
graduated
but having a
vineyard in Mendoza, which pro-
University of Cordova
patrimonial
duced him
the house of
in law,
;
hundred barrels of wine
five
a-year,
he had come to Paraguay, for the purpose of

selling them.
Grating as is such a union of law
and merchandise
in
one single person, to our
association of ideas, there
is
nothing perceptibly
anomalous in the junction, to the minds of the
South Americans. The day on which we arrived
Doctor Bargas had been to " palacio" in his court-dress.

That was a light-yellow
was a holiday.
coat,
with large mother-of-pearl buttons
satin breeches with gold knee-buckles,

silk
stockings
an
green
and white
embroidered waistcoat,
cocked-hat, a bag-wig, and a very ancient rapier.
His sumptuous head of hair was highly powdered
DOCTOR BARGAS.
278
and pomatomed and a quantity of cravat and

shirt-frill, which would look truly monstrous in
;
these days, obtruded itself
demanding deference from
The house
Mendoza
as
beholders.
all
of this Doctor Bargas consisted of
One was
three apartments.
wine,
which he
upon observation,
and
the
store for his
and yerba,
for the tobacco
received in exchange for
This
it.
served him at once for warehouse, dining-room,
and drawing-room
directly
upon
and the door of
the street.
Behind
it
opened
this
reper-
torium was the doctor's bed-room, in which were

to
be seen a stretcher, horse-gear, sundry petaor
cones,
cigars
a wash-hand basin on
small
window without
Clothes
and
hide-boxes of superior tobacco

a chair
sash
either
and a
or
were strewed hither and thither
boots and shoes in
all directions.
The
glass.
and
wall
was
whitewashed, and the conspicuous rafters were

black.
by
The
floor
either carpet or
wine stood
at
was of dusty
mat
one end
brick,
uncovered
some casks of Mendoza

while a gorgeous
ham-
mock, a Spanish blunderbuss, and a brace of pistols,
were ostentatiously displayed upon the
Behind
this apartment,
and
walls.
" en suite" was
mud-walled, and mud-floored kitchen,
in which
DOCTOR BARGAS.
279
by a fire kindled in the centre of it, a one-eyed

black slave called Bopi (in Guarani, " the man
of one eye") cooked the doctor's asado,
his olla, or seasoned with garlic his
made
more dainty
guisado, or stew.
The
received us in his court-dress,
doctor
With
seated upon a petacon of tobacco.
and no
feigned hospitality,
meanour, he welcomed
me
little
un-
grace of de-
He
to Assumption.
tapped a barrel of his best Mendoza wine
set
Bopi about cumbrous preparations for supper,
and
after eating, laughing, joking, hearing
the doctor
all
from
about the levee in Assumption, and
of his intimacy with the Marquis of Torretagle

in
Lima, we retired
to the
he to the
more enviable hammock
stretcher,
and
in his bed-room.
Jaded, rather, with the ride of the day, I fell

asleep, as Dr. Bargas was descanting to me on
the superiority of his native city, Mendoza, over
Assumption
where he told
the last words
heard),
me
(and they were

should find all the
inhabitants mere barbarians.
Yours, &c.
J. P.
R.
280
LETTER
To J
The Junta
My
of Paraguay
XXIII.
,
ESQ.
Reception More of Doctor Bargas

the Inhabitants
the City of Assumption
London, 1838.
ON
the morning after
I went,
my
arrival at
Assumption,
accompanied by Dr. Bargas and Mr.
Gomez,, to present myself at the Government-
House
of
my
men
to
show
business,
in power.
my
passports, give an account
and make my obeisance
The junta, which
ruled the province, was composed of three

bers, assisted
by an
assessor,
and a
to the
at this period
mem-
secretary.
Of
Don Fulgencio Yegros,

rank, Don Juan Pedro Cavallero.
these, the president was
and the next
in
They had both been mainly instrumental
in de-
feating Belgrano's army, and subsequently in deposing the Spanish Governor Velasco. They were
THE JUNTA OF PARAGUAY.

military
men and had, in

;
lution, respectively risen
consequence of the revofrom the rank of captain
They were men
to that of general.
pacity or education,
281
of
and untutored
in the
of the world, having never left their

province.
The
member
third
Don Fernando de
la
nity of character.
He
little
ca-
ways
own native
of the junta was
Mora, a lawyer of considerable attainments, some humour, and great urba-
had graduated at Cordova,
and being the only learned member of the executive, regulated, with the aid of an assessor,
Don
Gregorio de la Cerda,
all
that was techni-
"
"
cally called, the
Despatch of government. Its

decrees were drawn up, and its documents attested
by a secretary and notary public. The name of

the one was Don Larios Galvan, and of the
other,
Don
Jacinto Ruiz.
I mention their names, for they all fell victims,
one way or other, and at no distant period,

to the ungovernable jealousy, and unrelenting
in
cruelty of Francia.
arrival,
He
had, shortly before
been secretary of the junta
my
but he had
evinced a temper so petulant, dogged, and
self-
he provoked the long-suffering of

Yegros and Cavallero to the expression of some
willed, that
THE JUNTA OF PARAGUAY.
282
difference
of opinion.
Hereupon the
incipient
tyrant withdrew from the government made way

for Mora and Galvan
and was, at the time of
;
brooding in his
country-house, and in ominous discontent, over
my
to Assumption,
first visit
At
his loss of power.
planning, with
all his
arts of intrigue, a
the same time, he was
influence,
and by
all
the
speedy resumption of sway, at
once undivided and uncontrolled.

I
was admitted, then,
after
announcement by
the sentinel, to the " Sala del Despacho" of the
government, and hall of audience
for
it
was used
as this, after business-hours.

It
ment.
yet
was a spacious, and well-furnished apartNear the head of it, in great, and solemn,
awkward
state, sat, at a table
covered with
green cloth, the three members of the junta,

tended by the secretary, assessor, and notary.
at-
massive silver inkstand stood in the middle of the

table
and
in a
huge pile before the notary lay

and petitions, on which the
as well the processes
junta had decreed that day,

licences,
&c., which they
as the passports,
had granted.
received with cold and formal civility

to
be seated; and
after a
I
;
was
desired
few short questions,
MY RECEPTION.
was told
might
283
Doctor Bargas and
retire.
Gomez were ordered to remain.

On being rejoined by them
at
the house of
the former, I was informed that some

reports had reached the Government
awkward
;
of the
substance of which reports, the assessor, and
most
influential
man,
Don
Gregorio de la Cerda,
"
had thus delivered himself:
The Government
credibly informed that. Mr. Robertson is followed by a very large property, and that it is
is
his intention to
monopolize the commerce of the
This has created great jealousy and

and
dissatisfaction among the native merchants
province.
some
special fiscal regulations will
be necessary
to guard, in his case, against excesses of speculation, wiles,
and
Government
will
also said that
ship,
Those regulations the

take care to provide. But it is
fraud.
Mr. Robertson has on board of
his
munitions of war, and that he has been
making, as he travelled along, a
map
of the
and other observations of a suspicious

These are things that must be closely
country,
kind.
looked into.
It
behoves us also to see that
Mr. Robertson do nothing
'
contra bonus mores,'
MY RECEPTION.
284
For the present, this

To you, Dr. Bargas, whose guest
shall suffice.
Mr. Robertson is, we look for the care of his
or subversive of religion.
person,
and
vigilant observation of his conduct
while upon you, Senor Gomez, as supercargo,
and
chiefly
concerned in bringing this foreigner

we call for the rigid observ-
into the province,

ance,
under a security of two thousand
of the regulations to which
we
dollars,
shall subject
you
both."
This I thought a rather hostile reception. I

had been subjected to no such restrictions or surveillance, either at
I attributed those
Santa Fe, or Corrientes
imposed upon
tion to three causes;
and remote
local,
first,
me
at
and
Assump-
to its very isolated
which, by diminishing
its inter-
course with other countries, augmented
its distrust
of foreigners
and exag-
secondly, to the false
gerated reports circulated to

jealous competitors;
and
my
thirdly,
prejudice
to
by
undefined
fears in
regard to smuggling, contraband, heresy,

and monopoly. With the " mens conscia recti"
however, in
all
these respects, I did not greatly
quake under the junta's Interdictory Act.
I felt
MORE OF DOCTOR BARGAS.
285
assured that with the determination I had taken

to respect their laws,
teously
by
and deal
fairly
and cour-
the inhabitants of the land,
all
my
would soon speak for themselves and

while they would hush private slander, they
actions
that,
would also show the Government how groundless

were their suspicions, and how vain their fears.
The
result in a very short time justified
my
anticipations.
I
was now
fairly located
Mendoza wine-casks,
and
was often
among Dr. Bargas'
serons of tobacco and yerba;
fain to smile, as
witnessed the
daily occupations of this learned, facetious, but
rather inflated personage.
wine-shop
(for
it
In one corner of his
was nothing
else)
stood his
professional bufete, or lawyer's writing-table.
At
this,
he made out
escritos, or law-petitions
and papers, for his clients. The next moment,

and often with interruption to his writing, he
bought tobacco from the small country farmers,
from ten to one hundred pounds
weight; he trafficked in cigars with the Paraguay nymphs who manufactured them he sold
in quantities of
Mendoza wine by
the cask or by the gallon;
286
Mendoza
pounds
and
all this
of
arrobe
the
by
figs
with his own hands, aided
man
only in his manipulations by his
one-eyed Bopi.
The
all
work,
little
small fry with
of
politics,
polemical controversy,
His
of
doctor astonished
coteries
national law.
twenty- five
discussions
his
civil
and
on
inter-
volubility was wonderful,
his
power of engrossing conversation astonishing.

Mendoza, his native city, and the vineyard that
had descended from
father
to son,
for
many
generations, were exhaustless topics in the good

doctor's discourse.
The
who had passed

way to Lima were
viceroys
through Mendoza on their

known to him every one and
;
all
the presidents
of Chile, for the last hundred years, had taken
up
their abode, at the eastern base of the
in the
mansion of his
fathers.
He
Andes,
had been
Alcalde de primer voto, or mayor, in the place of
during three different years; and

he was enrolled a member of the audiencia, or
his nativity,
supreme court of Charcas. He had a wife who

was " abundante de nalgas," that is, " had a
large natural bustle ;" and his four children were
so
many cherubim.
The
doctor always went to
287
high mass at the cathedral, on Sunday, in the

I
court-dress, which I have already described.
have frequently seen him, just as the

tolling its
dress,
down, in
last chime, stoop
and serve a customer with a
drawn from the
was
bell
this court-
wine
flask of
barrel last tapped in his store.
One-eyed Bopi was dressed for high mass, too

and equipped in a white jacket, white trousers,
;
white
shirt,
and small
hat,
pace behind his master.

sider that there
stockings
walked at a solemn
This
last
did not con-
was any necessity
for shoes or
making
part of Bopi's livery.
In the
evening, the doctor used to ride out, and the

furniture of his horse was gorgeous as the attire
was not gauchified, (to coin a

word) but quite courtly. His high-piqued saddle
was covered with crimson velvet the head -piece
of
its
master,
it
of the bridle was massively
mounted with
silver
he used large stirrups of the same metal

(save the mark!) large and heavy spurs,
ened over
his thin shoes
and
silk stockings.
and
fast-
It
was the combination of the lawyer and the winemerchant that enabled the doctor thus gorgeously to equip himself.
From
the produce of
288
THE CITY OF ASSUMPTION.
his vineyard
he derived his wealth
and from
Cordova he had brought his learning.

combination made him a most respected
With Dr. Bargas and Gomez on my

no
at
loss to get
inhabitants, great
and
small, of
citizen.
side, I
soon acquainted with
fortnight sufficed for that
The
was
all
the
Assumption.
purpose
and
as the
ship, though now three months out on her voyage

from Buenos Ayres, did not make her appear-
ance, I
had
full
scope and leisure, during this
time, for observation.
Of
little.
the city of Assumption I shall say very
As
city, in
our acceptation of the word,
nothing can be said of
it.
In extent, architec-
ture, convenience, or population,
it
does not rank
with a fifth-rate town in England.
It is true
it
has a cathedral; and when we think of Gloucester, Salisbury,
drals, the
even Chester and other cathe-
name sounds
fine.
But neither has
Assumption any greater pretension
to compari-
son with one of the towns mentioned, than has
whitewashed paltry episcopal church, to comparison with any one of the noble piles which,
its
under the designation of cathedrals, adorn
this
THE CITY OF ASSUMPTION.

Its
country.
289
government-house, with the
of palace,
is
extensive
structure.
title
a mean, low, whitewashed, though

Its
largest
buildings,
though anything but sumptuous, are the convents; and so few good or commodious private
houses are there, that
it
took
me
a month to
find one large enough, at the highest rent ever
paid there, three hundred and sixty dollars, or

eighty pounds a-year, in which to accommodate
the limited establishment I contemplated form-
ing in this ancient capital.
Of such houses
there
were certainly not more than half a-dozen in the

The rest were small, mean shops, with
place.
three or four apartments attached to
them while
;
the great bulk of the dwellings were
simple
huts, constituting narrow lanes, or standing apart,
surrounded by a few orange-trees.
There could
not be said to be more than one street in the

town, and that was unpaved.
The
houses and
shops on one side of this were defended from

the sun and rain by a continuous corridor, some" rows " of Chester.
thing like the
houses had
azoteas,
mostly covered with

VOL.
i.
or flat roofs
tiles,
Few
:
of the
they were
and the doors of them

o
THE INHABITANTS.
290
generally opened, from the main apartment, with-
out any intervening passage, upon the street.
The
situation of the city, however,
is
noble.
stands, in the form of an amphitheatre,
It
on the
banks of the majestic and placid river ParaMany points of the town overlook that
guay.
magnificent stream; and the romantic approaches
have already described,

together with the populous and cultivated enviI
rons, form a tout ensemble very pleasing,
to the capital
which
might almost say enchanting.
The
inhabitants of Assumption
and
urbs amounted, at the time of which
its
sub-
I write, to
There were very few negroes,
ten thousand.
and not many mulattoes among them. The great

bulk of the population was of a breed between
Spaniards and Indians, so attenuated as regards
any appearance of the latter caste, as to give

the natives the air and appearance of descendThe men were generally
ants from Europeans.
well
made and
riably pretty.
their dress,
athletic
The
and
the
women
almost inva-
lightness and simplicity of
their personal attractions, still
more conspicuous than those of the females of
THE INHABITANTS.
291
Corrientes, together with a scrupulous attention
to personal propriete, gave
and
them all an
When
attractive appearance.
interesting
I used to see
them coming with their pitchers on their heads

from the wells and springs, they always reminded
me of so many Rebeccas.
The population may be
1st,
The members
ing military
2ndly,
classified as follows
of the body politic, includ-
officers.
The clergy,
and regular.
secular
Srdly, Lawyers and
doctors, quacks
and no-
taries.
4thly, Merchants.
5thly,
Men
of considerable estates.
Gthly, Shopkeepers.
7thly, Petty
landed proprietors, or yeomen in
the vicinity of the town.

Sthly,
Free labourers (including the men who
navigated the
river,
and worked
in
the
yerbales).
Indians.
9thly, Domesticated
These
point of numbers, consist of
classes, in
the following proportions, taking an average of

four to each family
o2
THE INHABITANTS.
292
Families.
Classes 1st to 6th, inclusive
7th.
'.
r'f
/....".
300
500
;.
8th.
9th
...
In
all
1000
700
2500
or 10,000 inhabitants.
Yours, &c.
J. P.
293
LETTER XXIV.
To J
The Market Place of Assumption

Ship
Precautions taken
Compadre La Cerda
ESQ.
Pai Mbatu
Arrival of the
Relaxation of these Precautions
Dona Juana
Ysquibel.
London, 1838.
THE most
curious, interesting,
and novel scene
presented to the eye of a stranger, in AssumpIt is held in

tion, is that of the market-place.
the great square.
Thither I repaired one morn"

gathering of
" the
ing, at five o'clock, to see
the people
who supplied
the city with
its
daily
wants.
from the country to the

square, poured hundreds of females, dressed,
Some
without an exception, in white cotton.
In, at every entrance
honey on their heads, some, bundles of the yucca- root, and some, of raw cotton.
carried jars of
MARKET-PLACE OF ASSUMPTION.
294
Others were laden with candles, sweet cakes,
and
flowers, jars of spirits, pies

cold, onions, red pepper,
Some had
garlic,
on
canisters of salt
pastry, hot
and Indian
and
corn.
their heads,
and
others large rolls of tobacco and bundles of cigars.
Here was one driving an

with poultry and eggs
ass with panniers filled
and there another, bring-
same means, musk and water-melons,

ing, by the
for sale.
figs and oranges,
Many were
laden with the sugar-cane, stripped
of its outer rind and cut into short pieces, ready

for suction.
Then came
the butchers' carts, with
indifferent beef, badly killed,
pieces in the straw-thatched
hung up
in large
waggon, without any
deference to cleanliness, and cut up with a total

disregard of anatomical precision.
mutton eatable
in
Paraguay
There
is
no
and, with the ex-
ception of the yucca-root, the vegetables are few,
and bad.
Nobody, almost, partakes of them.
After the groups mentioned, came the Payagua

Indians, hale and athletic, with their fish sus-
pended from long paddles,

shoulders.
carried
on
their
Others followed them with bundles
of chala, or grass, brought from the Chaco for
the
horses
of Assumption.
When
all
these
295
PAI MBATU.
various parties congregated in the market-place,

to the
number,
should conceive, of nearly
five
hundred, they distributed themselves and their

productions in rows, leaving just space enough
between, through which purchasers might pass.
There were no
stalls
nor any chairs there.
The
were laid out upon mats on the ground,

Of the
their owners sat squat behind them.
articles
and
whole mass of venders, at least three-fourths were
women, and of the purchasers an equal proportion
so that the ground was covered with a dense mass
of figures, clothed in white, chattering, higgling,

disputing,
air
and exclaiming,
in Guarani,
resounded with the buzz and
till
the
clatter of the
busy scene.
An
a
extraordinary personage in that scene was
man
Mbatu.
life;
of the
He
name
of Pai Mbatu, or Father
had taken
priest's orders in early
but whether stricken by
smitten by conscience for
love,
and then
allowing so
unhal-
lowed a passion to enter the bosom of a man

dedicated to the temple, as some say ; or whether,
according to others,
Pai Mbatu, never
having been a man of strong
weakened by much learning;
intellect,
certain
it
had
is
it
that
2%
PAI MBATU.
the Pai, without doffing his habit, quitted the

church, and lived a
and
sloth.
life
of listless indifference
This was very well, as long as his

but that was not exhaustless
patrimony lasted
and
The good gentleman then
failed him.
over-
threw the estimate of his friends as to his paucity

of intellect, by the ingenuity with which he made
He
provision for his wants.

ket-place regularly at
time,
attended the mar-
break of day.
For some
through the respect entertained
order,
by many, and through the pity
for
his
felt for
him by
others, he begged his way from one dep6t

of provision to another, and obtained a livelihood,
if
But
not honourable, at least gratis.
charity,
Pai Mbatu's patrimony, has a tendency to

exhaust itself, at a ratio proportioned to the
like
frequency with which

bution
it
is
laid
under
contri-
and that bounty which had hitherto
been extended by the dealers in the marketplace to the decayed clergyman, took the alarm
on seeing him one day appear among them

attended by a stout Tape Indian, bearing a
large hide tipa, or circular receptacle for provisions
on
his head.
He had
box of the same material
also a
in
deep candle-
his right hand.
PAI MBATU.
Pai
Mbatu had been
297
content, hitherto, to stow
away, in a wallet, carried by himself, the miscellaneous supplies for the larder, which he
col-
lected from his not unwilling contributors.
But
when they saw the formidable preparations made

more abundant stores, and
for the reception of
inferred that the
Tape Indian must be fed, as well

and sturdy resolution
as his master, a general
was come
to,
by the most
influential
both sexes in the market, to stop in

plies to Pai Mbatu.
Up
people of
toto
the sup-
he went, as usual, and his domestic behind
Not a
him, to his best patrons.
torta (or pie),
not a candle, cigar, drop of honey, bit of sugarcane, or
head of Indian corn could he
get.
Off he
"
went to the butcher's cart

Paysano," said he,
"
"
came."
la
Come, my friend, let me
venga
have my beef."
:
"
The
supplies are stopped," replied the but-
and turned to serve
paying customers.
From the aristocrats of the market Pai Mbatu
cher,
appealed to the poor

willing to contribute
his
and he found them
enough
But even they advised him
vant
still
for that day's supply.
to
dismiss his ser-
and one took leave to say, that though
o3
298
PAI MBATU.
she had contributed for
many
years to support
the Pai, she never herself had a hired servant,
and thought there was some impropriety in the

pretension of beggars to become gentlemen.
She supposed the next thing would be, that
Pai Mbatu and his servant would come to market
The result was, that the decayed

went
home that day more scantily
clergyman
supplied than he had ever before been, but not
on horseback.
mind made up to submit to a repetition

Next morning he sallied
of such treatment.
with his
forth,
with his servant and receptacle for pro-
on the day before.
visions as
He
carried with
him, in addition, a long cane, with a stout and

well- sharpened nail
tremity of
classes,
it.
with
driven into the lower ex-
Going up
to several of the poorer
whom he had
hitherto dealt,
he
warned and admonished them against the mortal

sin of refusing meat to any one, but especially
to a
man
of his vocation.
They
He
trembled.
then made various signs of the cross, and exorcisms, with his
cane.
They withdrew
their
hands, which had before been stretched out to

protect their provisions.
scribed by the stick
The magic
became
less
and
circle deless,
till
PAI MBATU.
finding in the centre of
Pai Mbatu,
down upon
299
it
a torta to the liking of
it
pounced the cane, and

handed to the tape
the prize was straightway
With due composure
behind.
the valet cast
into the hide receptacle for his

marketing.
Mbatu then proceeded
it
Pai
to another spot selected
occupant for the sale of her produce.

the
exhortation and warning commenced ;
Again
the exorcisms, denunciations, and
fol-
by
its
muttering
lowed; the magic stick swept its magic circle,
and up at its end, to be handed to the Indian
behind, came yucca-root,
beef, candles, sugar-cane,
Pai
and many other articles

liquid was wanted,
When a
in the market-place.
little
Mbatu attached
to the
earthen bottle, and
woman
Indian corn, cigars,
end of
left it to
to supply the cordial.
In
his cane a
the marketless
than a
month, the whole people of the market-place were

content to submit to the spoliations of Pai
and his Indian
servant, consoling themselves with
the reflection, that

little
temporal
loss,
lasting interests.
there were
five
Mbatu
they thereby incurred a

they served better and more
if
They thought,
too, that as
hundred who sold their wares
the shambles, and that, as
it
in
required only ten of
300
PAI MBATU.
them
to supply the daily
visitation
but twice a quarter

is
wants of the Pai, the
could come upon them

so what, after
individually
all,
said they,
the provision of one day, twice a quarter, for
a reverendo
When
I first visited the market-place, I
who has been

followed
was
by the conspicuous personage
not only attracted
the subject of this episode, but
him.
observed,
composure with which the

filled their wallets,
and admired the
man and
his servant
and the unhesitating acquies-
cence on the part of the simple people of Pa-
raguay in his now apparently -established claims

upon their bounty. It was only when I went
home
to
Dr. Bargas, and related what I had
seen, that
he told
I thought
related.
me
it
the story I have
now
a curious illustration of
the ingenuity and address of the Pai, and of
the good-nature and hospitality, increased by

superstition, of the Paraguayans.
Not
Pai
the least curious part of the story
Mbatu and
his
man were
is,
that
not only fed by
the contributions levied on the market-place, but

clothed.
drink,
They
sold their superfluity of
and with what they got
meat and
for that,
gowns
ARRIVAL OF THE SHIP.
and cassocks, and
clerical hats
301
were bought
for
the priest; jackets, ponchos, shirts, and drawers

for the tape.
have often wondered how such an attempt as

the one detailed would be
encouraged at the stalls
I
of
I
Covent-garden and Leadenhall-market.
if
even
a
it
question
decayed bishop (were
possible that such there should be) could
get, and
on the same easy terms, at either of

those places, what the decayed curate got in the
that for
life,
market-place of Assumption.
But the
ship arrived.
The Government
bustle.
whole cargo,
sent to the
it
issued
in a
The
its edicts.
contrary to general practice, was
Government
regulations,
The town was
stores
and among other
was not only ordered that
should
take out but a limited amount of property at

a time, but that my supercargo, Gomez, should
be sworn to deliver in a monthly account of

whole transactions.
my
was forbidden to export specie, and to import more merchandise. Every package of that
I
which
had brought was
strictly
examined
not before such examination was
be conveyed to
my own
house.
it
and
allowed to
Double guards
PRECAUTIONS TAKEN.
302
were put on board the vessel, and all the precautions taken which suspicion could suggest: but
My transactions
nothing was found wrong.
extensive, both with the native merchants
became
and with the
cultivators
of produce.
I pre-
judiced neither of them, but promoted the inteThe large amount of wealth (and
rests of both.
for
Assumption,
it
was large) which
I controlled
and managed, brought, by degrees, the usual

attendant upon the influence
concomitants
I interfered not even remotely with
property.
politics
of
I paid large duties to the state
I be-
came intimate with the assessor Cerda; and

intimate too, with the individual members of
Government
and
at length I
pliance
people,
with
it
and was
by them ;
was told that although, in com-
I visited
the
visited
lingering jealousies
decrees against
me
as if in literal force, yet I
might consider the most obnoxious of

virtually abolished.
from the time of my
In
less
arrival, I
was not only a
dealt liberally with the rich, gave
to the poor,
them
as
than three months
rated but a welcomed person among

I
of the
was necessary to keep the existing
tole-
all classes.
employment
and intermeddled not with the poli-
RELAXATION OF THE PRECAUTIONS.
religious creed of a single individual.
tical or
When
asked to express
subjects,
of
my
enable
303
declined
my
opinion on those
doing
on the plea
so,
not having the knowledge necessary to
me
to discuss the one, nor the learning
to authorise
my
versy on the
entering upon polemical controLittle
other.
tained of the truth of
my
doubt
will
assertion,
be enter-
when
I state
that at the time of which I write, I was not
twenty years of age.

Thus all went very smoothly ; everything I
did prospered ; and in about four months .after
Assumption, I felt myself in a great

I had
degree identified with its inhabitants.
free access to high and low
and where I could
my
arrival in
not win affection, I endeavoured, by conciliation,
The
to disarm enmity.
ruler of the
Cerda, had become
was
assessor, I
Government,
I unwilling to
my
may
say, the
Don
Gregorio de la
right-hand man; nor
march under the
direction of
who not only did as he pleased in affairs of

state, but who was the padrino (or godfather)
one,
of the children of every family of consideration

in the place.
All
bowed
to him, courted him,
DONA JUANA
304
YSQU1BEL.
him presents; and his sway over the counat large was not more remarkable than the
sent
try
under which he kept all persons

Padrino Cerda's orders, and even
willing control
of any note.
his volitions
became
irreversible.
control of a
Eoman
families to which
still
less
We know little
and almost sacred
in this country of the absolute
Catholic godfather over the
he stands in
this relation
do we know of the
strict
and
obligation
under which he holds himself, through good report and evil report, to promote the interest of
the families,
toward
and
whom
especially of the godchildren,
he contracts his paramount
obli-
gations at the baptismal font.
Don
Gregorio introduced me one day to the

great-grandmother of one of his comadres or
The
gossips.
of age
rich, hale,
and she was
was eighty-four years

healthy, vigorous and active
old lady
in the habit of riding to
Assump-
her country-house and back again

on a gallant palfrey, three times a- week. Though
tion from
a wrinkled skeleton, and brown as an Egyptian
mummy,
all
she was erect
she did not totter at
and her utterance, even
in
Spanish, was
DONA JUANA YSQUIBEL.
305
unbroken, and distinct. Her name (and

was a very old family name) was Dona Juana
clear,
it
Ysquibel.
had long been looking out for a countryhouse but could find none
exactly to please me.
I
Compadre La Cerda knew

mined
I should
He
this.
occupy part of
had
Dona
deter-
Juana's
and a simple hint from the all-powerful godfather was sufficient to ensure a ready compliance with his desire.
word of his
project
To me
he never said a
but one day,
I received
from
the old lady herself, a note written in quite a

legible character to this effect
" I understand
from
my compadre La
Cerda"
(you will perceive that though he was only the

godfather of her great- grand- daughter's family,
she called him her's), " that you want a house
Though mine is none of the

" I shall
was
the
(it
expect you
very best),
take up your abode in it, whenever you like,
in the country.
best
to
"
after to-morrow.
till
I will take
no excuse, at
you can better suit yourself.
shall
least
hold
three apartments, and the necessary attendance

at your service.
(Signed)
"
JUANA DE YSQUIBEL."
306
testimony of
I could scarcely credit the
own
eyes, as I read the note.
the lady above twice

it
and
in doubt as to whether
proceeded from her, I carried
La
me
to
compadre
laughed at my incredulity ; gave
to understand that it was all his doing
it
He
Cerda.
and that unless

affront
I complied,
should put an
upon the octogenarian lady that she would
never recover.
went a few days afterwards,
and took possession of

at
my
had never seen
Dona
my
Juana's house in
spacious apartments
In
Campo Grande.
rude fashion, but with overflowing hospitality

was I received by her, and waited upon by her
numerous
in
slaves.
The house
an orange-grove
wooded country
it
embosomed
stood
was surrounded by a
richly contrasted with small in-
tervening valleys and clear streams.
Game
of
every kind abounded within a few hundred yards

of the house.
servants too
me
Horses were at
my
service,
and
Doiia Juana, having once received
within her gate, thought her honour com-
promised, her reputation for hospitality at stake,

unless every thing that could contribute to my
comfort and happiness were as complete as she

could
make
it
recommendation
compadre,
La
and
it
of her
was
all
307
on the simple
great-grand-daughter's
Cerda.
Yours, &c.
J. P.
308
LETTER XXV.
G
To J
Dona Juana Ysquibel
ESQ.
Serio-Comic Affair
Preparations for
a Fete-Chainp6tre.
London, 1838.
DONA JUANA YSQUIBEL

extraordinary
women
was one of the most
I ever saw.
In Paraguay,
women fade generally into old age at forty.

Yet Dona Juana was eighty-four and though ne;
cessarily shrivelled and grey, she
still
preserved
a vivacity of eye, a hilarity of disposition, and an
both of body and of mind, which exemthe truth of the saying that " there is no
activity,
plified
general rule without an exception."

I was entertained
her " en Prince."
by
is
in the Spanish character, especially as
There
it
was
then enlarged by South American abundance,

such a magnificent conception of the word " hos-

pitality," that I
allowed
with proper demon-
it,
and favours on
strations of reciprocal courtesy
proceed, on that of Dona Juana,
part, to
my
309
to a great extent.
In the
first
whole
place, her
household establishment, servants, horses, viands,
produce of her
estate,
were at
my disposal.
Then,
accidentally admired any thing she had,
if I
favourite palfrey,
rich filagree,
choice speci-
mens of tambouring, preserved sweetmeats,

or a pair of handsome mules,
they were instantly
made over
to
me
in a
tion unavoidable.
way
to render their recep-
gold snuff-box, because I
was very pretty, was brought by a slave

one morning into my room and a ring of bril-
said
it
liants
it,
was
one day happened to look at

my table, with a note which made
because I
laid
on
its
acceptance imperious.
in
the house but what
and though
it
Nothing was cooked

was known I liked;
endeavoured in as many ways as

possible, at once to compensate for this onerous
I felt it to be rather
civility, and to show that
I
overwhelming, yet I found

diminish
all
my
efforts
to
it ineffectual.
I was, therefore, determined to quit
hospitable abode,
my
over-
when a circumstance occurred
310
A SERIO-COMIC AFFAIR.
which, however incredible,

it
changed,
is
most true
and placed on a better
subsequent intercourse with
my
this
and
footing,
singular
woman.
I was fond of the plaintive airs sung by the
Paraguayans, and accompanied by the guitar.
Dona Juana knew
this
and
to
my
great sur-
when I came home one evening from town,

found her, under the direction of a guitarista,
prise,
or master of the guitar, endeavouring, with her
cracked voice, to sing a
brown, and wrinkled
triste,
and with her
fingers, to
lank,
manage an ac-
companiment to it on the guitar. How could I

do otherwise, on beholding such a spectacle of
second childhood, than, in defiance even of the
lady's sensitive nature,
break out into a smile,
expressive of derision.
" For God's

sake," said
I,
"
Dona Juana, how can
after
you, fourteen years
the time when, according to the laws of
humanity, you should have been in the grave,

either
make
yourself such a butt for the ridicule
of your enemies, or such an object for the com-
passion of your friends ?"
The
exclamation, I confess, even though ad-
dressed to a
woman
of eighty-four, was not a
gallant one: for where age
is
woman can bear a taunt ?

That Dona Juana, in this
weakness of her
Down
sex,
311
concerned, what
respect,
had
all
the
was very soon apparent.
she flung the guitar
she ordered the
singing-master unceremoniously out of the house ;

the servants she sent out of the room ; and then,
with a fierceness of aspect,
of which I
little
thought her capable, she astounded me by the

" Senor Don
Juan little
following address
:
did I expect such an insult from the

I
have loved
and on the
:"
latter
man whom
word she
laid
no ordinary emphasis. " Yes," (she continued)

" loved.
I was prepared, I am still prepared to
If I was
offer you my hand and my estate.
learning to sing, and to play the guitar, for
but yours ?
what have I thought
whose sake was

studied,
it
What
of,
have I
for
whom
have I lived during the last three months but

for
you
and
is
this
the return which I meet
with ?"
Here the
old lady exhibited a curious com-
bination of the ridiculous, the pathetic, and the

passionate, as, melting into tears,
and yet sobbing
with indignation, she gave vent to her feelings.
312
The
scene was one of striking novelty, not unal-
loyed with alarm on
poor old
woman.
my
part,
on account of the
I therefore left the
her female servants to her
told
room
them
sent
their mis-
was seriously ill and after hearing that all

alarm was over, I went to bed, not knowing
tress
whether most to
pity, or to smile at, the
tender
passion which a youth of twenty had excited in
the susceptible bosom of a lady of eighty-four.
from any charge

I do it
of vanity in relating the pathetic tale.
the
well-known
to
aberrations
exemplify
simply
of that most ardent yet capricious of all the deities,
I
hope
I shall stand exonerated
There
Cupid.
shaft.
is
no age beyond the reach of
his
The
are alike
octogenarian and the youthful swain

and his pranks are genehis victims
;
rally the most frolicsome
when
age, habits, decrepitude,
all
things external,
have combined to
render the idea of his access to the heart incredible
and absurd.
At Dona
Juana's request, I went next morn-
ing to her chamber
a night's rest has no
the feelings, or that
and whether
it
be that
small effect in soothing
my
reasonings with her,
accompanied by a reluctant protest that I must
PREPARATIONS FOR A FETE CHAMPETRE.
313
leave
her house, unless she would
give
me
formal promise no longer to make love, or to

play the guitar, I know not but certain it is,
:
that she was reconciled to

my remaining, under
a solemn league and covenant on her
part, that
I should neither receive
any
more presents, nor
hear anything more of love or music.
The day
of St.
John was
at hand.
It is a very
grand and festive day in all Catholic countries

and it was not only the day of Dona Juana's
She proposed, as a proof of
saint, but of mine.
;
her complete forgiveness of

suit, to
or
rejection of her
celebrate the day at her house in Ytapua

"
a fte
Campo Grande, by
she said, "
show the
we
once honour our
sincerity of our
been very
pero eso se acabo
'
Thus,"
champetre.
shall at
confess I have
'
my
'
saint,
and
mutual forgiveness. I
matter
foolish in this
"
that
is all over.'
I cordially assented to the celebration of the
proposed fete, on the express condition that it

was to be at my expense. This knotty point
being also settled, Dona Juana and
to
Assumption
proceeded
to invite the guests,
she on a
prancing palfrey, with two handsome female mulatto grooms

and I by her side, on a not despi;
VOL.
i.
314
PREPARATIONS FOR
cable bay gelding,

behind me.
with a black man-servant
There was no such thing known,

as the
ceremony of issuing cards of invitation
a month before
nor indeed of
The
all.
in Paraguay,
the day appointed for a

issuing cards
of
fete,
invitation, at
simple practice was for the parties, at
whose houses
it
was to be held, to go round,
personally, three days before its celebration, to

their various friends,
and bid them
to the supper,
the dinner, the wedding, or the dance, as the
was now not only acquainted,

but intimate, with high and low, rich and poor,
case
might
be.
in Assumption.
there,
Though
there was a distinction
and even a marked one, of
classes
grades, there was none of that refinement,

in
Europe, by which a
loses caste
by
man
and
known
of a certain rank
visiting in a lower.
This
arose,
of course, out of the different constitution of the

society in
Paraguay from that of more advanced
countries.
course
was
The whole
less
structure of
complicated
in
human
the
inter-
isolated
regions of the departed Jesuits than in the more
populous kingdoms of civilized Europe. On the

comparative advantages to be derived from the
A FETE CHAMPETRE.
315
simplicity of a Paraguay life, and from the refinement of a European one, I think with Sir Roger
de Coverley, that much might be said on both

sides but eschewing the discussion of the sub:
you to philosophize on it,

according to your humour, from the facts, which
I have already related, and have yet to detail
ject,
shall
leave
illustrative of the
nature of Paraguay society.
Dona Juan a and
I arrived at
Assumption, in
time to go through, in one day, the ceremony of
paying a personal
of which we had
visit to
every one of the guests,
made out
the
that were to
list,
to be invited to celebrate the festival of St.

at
Of
course the
Ytapua.
vernment were
first
refused to come.
Then Don Gregorio de
asked
John
members of the
;
go-
and none of them

la Cerda,
the almost universal compadre of Paraguay, and
the other officers of rank and note followed
post-master general
the
collector of the customs
clergy, both secular and regular ; quarteleros,

or officers of the barracks ; General Velasco, the
old Spanish governor
a few farmers
chants; a few shopkeepers;
come;
and were,
as
we
all, all
say, in
a few mer-
consented to
accepting the
" most
invitation,
happy."
p2
316
PREPARATIONS FOR A FETE CHAMPETRE.
Things being thus preliminarily arranged for

the grand fete, Dona Juana and myself set in
earnest about
for giving it
making the necessary preparations

In these we were aided by
clat.
a great
families in
many
account of what passed
Assumption
and the
shall next proceed to
give you.
Yours, &c.
J. P.
R.
317
LETTER XXVI.
To J
ESQ.
FETE AT YTAPUA.
Celebration of the day of St.
Arrival of the
Image
of the
Members
John the Baptist
Company
of Government
Cerda and his Comadres
and
of
first
Don
His Shrine aad

of the Friars
Gregorio de la
of the Officers of the Quartel, or
of miscellaneous groups and of General Velasco,

the late Spanish Governor Commencement of the mirth
barracks
Paraguay peasantry and the guitar
The
festivities
Break-
ing up of the party.
London, 1838.
THE
natal day of St.
John dawned auspicious on
The most sumptuous and abundant

Ytapua.
arrangements were made by Dona Juana, as well
in
honour of her
of her guests.
hundred,
good cheer
These amounted to about two
saint, as for the
and embraced
all
grades,
members of the government, down

keepers of Assumption.
you of Dr. Bargas
and
from the
to the shop-
After what I have told

his wine-stores,
you
will
see that there was no degradation attached to
318
CELEBRATION OF THE DAY OF
the profession of vending
Tout au
contraire
by
ST.
JOHN.
retail in
Paraguay.
your tendero, or shopkeeper,
being generally the more substantial man of the

two, took precedence of your country- gentleman;
who,
little
acquainted either with the value of
land, or the dignity conferred in
by
the possession of
it,
some
countries,
looked up with respect
and down
to the shopkeeper's bags of dollars,
with a sigh of regret upon his own less pros" Un

" un
pobre estanciero"
perous condition.
" a
poor breeder of cattle on
pobre hacendado"
" a
poor cultivator of
my own
estate"
lands"
were expressions as
of "
Un
comerciante poderoso"
" an affluent
rico"
keeper."
common
For
merchant"
my own
my own
as those
"
un tendero
" a rich
shop-
part, carrying
my Eu-
ropean associations always with me, I never could

look but with respect on the patriarchal descendants of the
first
conquerors of Paraguay,
who
had inherited their lands from their ancestors,

and cultivated them from generation
tion,
to genera-
with rude, but successful simplicity.
But
to return to
Ytapua.
care was to decorate with

large image of St.
Dona Juana's
first
uncommon splendour
John the Evangelist, which,
in
HIS SHRINE
AND IMAGE.
319
a costly crystal box, she preserved as the chief

ornament of her principal sala or drawing-room.
He was painted anew, and re-gilt

velvet robe purchased for him,
he had a black
and trimmed with
deep gold lace.

Hovering over him was a
and
with
more
historical propriety than
cherub,
I
should have expected from a
artist in
Roman
Catholic
Paraguay, there were thrown up behind

artificial rocks, moss, and trees,
the saint some
meant
to represent the Isle of Patmos, in which
Every friend of Dona

some part of her jewellery for
the decoration of the holy man. Rings spar-
he wrote the Apocalypsei
Juana had
lent
kled on his fingers
collars
hung around
neck; a tiara graced his venerable brow.
his
The
lacings of his sandals were studded with pearls
a precious girdle bound his slender waist; and

six large
wax candles were
shrine.
There, embosomed
greens,
the orange,
lighted
in
up
at the
fragrant ever-
the lime,
the acacia,
stood the favourite saint, destined to receive the
homage of every guest that should arrive.

The orange- groves on either side of the house
first
were festooned with variegated lamps, ready to
be
lit.
The
tables were laid out
by the best
320
ARRIVAL OF THE COMPANY.
confectioners in
Assumption
the old governor's
cooks were hired for the occasion
was requested to bring

domestics as he could.
as
Preliminaries being thus
arranged,
Dona Juana and
and every one
many
of his
own
duly and in order

took our seat upon
the lawn, and there awaited the approach of our

guests, with all the self-complacency consequent
upon a conscientious conviction that no pains

had been spared to provide, either for their comfort or
amusement.
In the month of June, which

season in Paraguay, the weather
enough
is
is
their winter-
generally cool
to allow of people's going abroad during
the middle of the day.

therefore,
begun
to
No
lay
sooner had the sun,

his
slanting
beams
athwart the umbrageous outlets, which conduct

from Assumption to the adjacent country, than
horses, mules, carts, carriages, vehicles of every
description were put in motion for Ytapua.
First of
Dona
all,
came prancing up the lawn
to
Juana's house, a goodly company of Fran-
by the band of their moand

mounted
on horses, sleek and fat,
nastery,
and richly caparisoned.
Notwithstanding the
ciscan friars, preceded
THE FRIARS.
321
coolness of the day, each friar carried his
um-
brella; and though clothing of sackcloth and

absence of linen and stockings, bespoke his humility
very
yet the
plump and
portly appearance of
much in keeping with
all,
the condition of their
and good living,

escape the most charitable
horses, told a latent tale of ease
which could scarcely

In saying that
observer.
this venerable
body
came attended by the band of the convent, it
may be
necessary to explain that in Assumption,
every convent had
its
band
for the celebration,
in the first instance, of high
mass
but in Ihe
second, also, for the purpose of being hired out
with the charitable view of promoting festive

hilarity.
Have you
ever been in one of our old-
fashioned country churches in England, where

the clodpole performers of the orchestra lord
at once over priest
and congregation?
it
Such a
band
as you have heard there will convey to you

an exact idea of those, which, from the time of
the conquest of Paraguay,
sumption, the parishioners,

riably,
had
edified, in
As-
and formed, inva-
on excursions such as that to Ytapua, part
of the retinue of the priests.

friars, to
the
number
The Franciscan
of eight, alighted from their
p 3
MEMBERS OF GOVERNMENT.
322
horses,
and
after
Recoletanos.
them, the Dominicans and
their hats to St.
kneeled and took off
all
They
John
Jubilate was played
by
the band: and then followed refreshments and
might suppose them

and even polished soci-
congratulations, just as you

to take place in civilized
ety in England.
There was no stabling for the horses of such a

company as we expected; and therefore the whole
successive troops
that bore their masters were
let into a large potrero, or paddock, for the night.
Scarcely
had we done the honours
ciscan friends,
when
in a
nearly a century back,
to our Fran-
lumbering carriage of
the old government state-
carriage of Assumption,
appeared the wives of

the members of the junta. They were escorted
by their husbands mounted on gallant chargers,

and dressed in ball-room costume. Their heavy
sabres dangled by their sides;
yet they were
clothed in short knee-breeches and silk stockings
while their horses, trained for such special
occasions to dance, (and so called baylarines, or

dancers,)
moved on by the
that dragged
side of the carriage
ponderous weight through ruts

of sand often eight and ten inches
The
deep.
its
DON GREGOR10 AND
HIS COMADRES.
carriage having set down,
and the gentlemen
dismounted on the lawn, the horses were

before, to the paddock,
The
sent, as
and the vehicle to the
back part of the house.

This party was succeeded by
la Cerda,
323
Don
Gregorio de
and twelve or fourteen of his comadres.
were in caravans with awnings over

them, and mattresses under the ladies, to break
latter
the shock of the constant jolting of the clumsy
They were drawn each by four

and moved at the rate of two miles an
waggons.
Then
six out of the twelve
with them.
Don
oxen,
hour.
comadres had infants
Gregorio (their guardian angel)
was mounted on a superb white
horse, capari-
soned after the highest style of Spanish luxury

and antiquity and he had one favourite godson
;
before,
and another behind him.
He was
dressed
in a light drab coat, with large mother-of-pearl
buttons, an embroidered waistcoat, silk stockings,
and golden knee and shoe-buckles of course he

wore a very high cocked-hat; and an ample scarlet
;
capote,
or
shoulders.
children as
I ever
saw
cloak,
thrown
No man
Don
in
gracefully
was ever so
Gregorio
over
his
rich in god-
and therefore no man
America was so potent.
If a
man
324
MISCELLANEOUS GROUPS.
wishes to become, in that country, a first-rate
him lay himself out
character, let
to
become a
general godfather.
After
Don
Gregorio, came groups of officers
in full-dress, escorting each, on horseback, his fa-
vourite Dulcinea.
on a
In
many
cases the lady rode
behind her dragoon ; and not a few

palfreys were mounted by two Paraguay an sylphs,
pillion
escorted
their favourite paysitos, or
by
country beaux.
keepers, in
all
vulgarity;
in
young
In poured the tenderos, or shopthe finery of upstart wealth and
came Dr. Bargas, powdered, and
pomatumed, and frizzled from top to toe. In

came the merchants, full of " wise saws and
modern
instances ;"
and
finally, in
came the
late
gentleman-like, modest, and dignified Spanish

He was attended
governor, General Velasco.
simply by his butler and valet- de-chambre, (for

the faithful man served him in both capacities)
and a groom.
All his power was gone
his
honours were laid
in the dust: there were his rivals revelling in
those attributes and distinctions which but a few
months ago were exclusively
his
own; and yet
not a frown, not a symptom of jealousy or morti-
COMMENCEMENT OF THE MIRTH.
325
ged pride clouded his brow. Good man

little he deserved the awful fate which
!
How
at a
subsequent period overtook him during Francia's
indiscriminating and unrelenting reign of
terror.
the time the whole party was assembled,

the shades of evening were beginning to throw
By
their
sombre hues over the scene of the lawn.
The sun
set in great splendour,
The dark
rose in equal brightness.
ment was studded with
stars
nal the whole house was

in
appeared
convents
a blaze
up
and the moon
lit
blue firma-
at a given sig-
the orange-grove
struck the bands of the
and, some upon the lawn, some in the
saloons, but all somewhere,
taneous dance.
The
commenced a simul-
brilliancy of the light
on
the spot, and the chastened transparency of the
country and atmosphere
in
the
distance,
minded me of the night gambols of

haunts not yet encroached
beings.
What added
upon
greatly to
re-
fairies, in
by human
the romantic
simplicity of the scene was, that, ever
and anon,
groups of Paraguayan peasantry, uninvited,

except by the report they had heard of the re-
little
joicings that were to take place at
Dona
Juana's,
326
PARAGUAY PEASANTRY AND THE GUITAR.
came through the valley in
They were
different directions.
escorted by one or two guitarreros
(players on the guitar), who accompanied themselves on that instrument to some plaintive triste,
As they emerged from beor national ballad.

hind the copses, or came out from the surrounding dark woods, in their white dresses, they
looked in the distance like inhabitants of another
world;
and
as
their
simple
and harmonious
music came undulating from different quarters

upon the breeze, one might have fancied it a
choral contribution of the shepherds of Arcadia.
Very
different
were the revels within, and im-
mediately around the dwelling of
Some were dancing on
Dona Juana.
the lawn; some in the
some were cracking jokes amid peals of

laughter loud and long; here was a party of
friars busy at malilla (or
whist), and there anosaloons;
ther rejoicing in the pleasures of the tempting
wines and viands which were spread out for all.

few of the more bold of the holy fathers were
winding through the mazes of the dance.
They
were distinguishable chiefly by their bulk from

their fair partners, both
being clad in petticoats.
Then
there was
Don
Gregorio de la Cerda, who
THE
327
FESTIVITIES.
thought his reputation at stake unless he kept

the mothers of his godchildren (his comadres) in
a state of perpetual self-complacency, or
ible
Don Fernando
laughter.
member
de
la
irresist-
Mora, a
and
of the junta, danced with the gout,
like Andromache, when she was parting from

Hector, laughed and cried at the same moment.
Here was a personage, named Bedoya, nearly

seven feet high, and with latitudinal amplitude
much more than proportioned
to his longitudinal
he was dancing with no small

and perspiring with no little profusion.
dimensions.
glee,
Still
The members
restraint,
of the government threw off
and danced, drank, and smoked
just like the rest of their subjects.
Dona Juana,
in
her eighty-fourth
all
cigars,
Up
got
and
year,
danced a sarandig, or heel-dance; swains with

their
nymphs crowded
there wooed "
the orange- grove and each
his ain kind dearie."
vants collected in groups round the

the
little
The
groves for their cooking purposes;

singing company, as
it
ser-
fires lit in
every
came up, was accom-
modated with room, and entertained with good

cheer defiance seemed to be bidden to the ills
;
of life;
and, uncouth as was the music of the
THE
328
FESTIVITIES.
church choirs, and vociferous as was the din of

the guests, yet the whole scene had an air thrown
over
it
rity,
which
and
of abundance, simplicity,
I shall not
cordial hila-
soon forget.
light and the music of the revels

must have reached Dr. Francia's cottage and at
Both the
time he was planning those schemes

which have since been carried into execution, and
this very
have at once hushed
hilarity,
and extinguished
the light of liberty.
The old Spanish Governor Velasco observed

to me with remarkable and foreboding emphasis
:
"
Ah, Mr. Kobertson, I
last scene of festivity
we
am
afraid this
is
the
shall ever see in Para-
guay."
At length the envious day broke in upon our

The ladies began to look very wan,
revelries.
and the candles and lamps
The
to
grow very dim.
lungs of the musicians were exhausted;
some of the
friars
had
lost their
money
at cards,
and many of the guests their wits over their

Mothers looked after their daughters
wine.
servants after their carriages and carts.
Many
husbands were, by their wives, caught napping,

but all were obliged to obey orders. They ran
BREAKING UP OF THE PARTY.

into the
paddock to catch
wards
busied
Warm
coffee
their horses,
themselves
in
329
and
saddling
after-
them.
and chocolate were handed round
and equipages started; troops

of hallooing horsemen took the road off went
the friars, and off with them the musicians.
servants bustled,
By nine
left to
o'clock in the morning, there
was nothing
behold but the vestiges of the gaiety of
the night past.
Yours, &c.
J. P. R.
'330
LETTER XXVII.
To J
Scenery of Ytapua
My first
ESQ.
Interview with Francia
His Manners and Attainments
tage
His
His Cot-
Political Intrigues.
London, 1838.
THE
Juana Ysquinor was

was
beautiful
;
Ytapua
absolutely
the country around it less so. You might see the
magnificent woods of rich and varied verdure;
situation of the house of Doiia
bel in
here the open plain, and there the dense coppice;

gurgling springs and brooks refreshing the soil ;
orange- groves,
sugar-canes,
and
showing forth the industry of
Indian
corn,
man; the lowly
cottage bespeaking his contentment and rural
and occasionally the larger dwelling

bearing evidence that he is by nature an aspiring
simplicity
being.
On
after
one of those lovely evenings in Paraguay,

the south-west wind has both cleared and
MY
FIRST INTERVIEW WITH FRANCIA.
cooled the
air,
I was drawn, in
my
331
pursuit of
game, into a peaceful valley, not far from Dona

Juana's, and remarkable for its combination of
the striking features of the scenery of the
all
country.
Suddenly
pretending cottage.
and the bird came
came upon a neat and un-
Up rose a partridge
I fired,
A voice from
to the ground.
" a
"Buen tiro"
good shot."
and beheld a gentleman of about
behind called out,

I turned round,
years of age, dressed in a suit of black,

with a large scarlet capote, or cloak, thrown over
fifty
He
had a mate-cup in one hand,

in the other; and a little urchin of a
his shoulders.
a cigar
negro, with his arms crossed, was in attendance
by the gentleman's side. The stranger's countenance was dark, and his black eyes were very
penetrating, while his jet hair,
combed back from
a bold forehead, and hanging in natural ringlets
gave him a dignified and

wore on his shoes large golden
over his shoulders,

striking
air.
buckles, and
He
at the knees of his
breeches the
same.
I
apologized for having fired so close to his
house; but, with great kindness and urbanity,

the owner of
it
assured
me
there was no occasion
MY
332
for
FIRST INTERVIEW WITH
offering the least excuse;
my
house and grounds were at

I chose to
my
and that
service,
his
whenever
amuse myself with my gun
in that
In exercise of the primitive and simple

hospitality common in the country, I was invited
to sit down under the corridor, and take a cigar
direction.
and a mate.
A celestial globe, a large telescope,
and a theodolite were under the

and
portico;
immediately inferred that the personage
before
little
me
was no other than Doctor Francia.
The apparatus accorded with what
had heard
of his reputation for a knowledge of the occult
but I was not long left to conjecture on

point ; for he presently informed me, in an-
sciences
this
my appeal whether I had not the honour

of addressing Dr. Francia, that he was that
swer to
person.
" And I
" that
presume," he continued,
you
are the Cavallero Ingles,
Juana Ysquibel's ?
I replied that I
tended to
call
on
who
resides at
Dona
"
was
me
when he
said he
had
in-
but that such was the state
of politics in Paraguay, and particularly as far as
himself was concerned, that he found

to live in great seclusion.
He
it
necessary
could no other-
333
FRANCIA'S COTTAGE.
he added, avoid the having of sinister interpretations put upon his most trifling actions.
wise,
Passing from this subject, he was pleased that

I
should know what were his occupations.
introduced
me
He
to his library, in a confined room,
with a very small window, and that so shaded by

the roof of the corridor, as to admit the least portion of light necessary for study.
The
library
was arranged on three rows of shelves, extending

across the room, and might have consisted of
There were many ponthree hundred volumes.
derous books on law;
sciences
some
in
a few on the inductive
French and some in Latin upon
subjects of general literature, with Euclid's Ele-
ments, and some school-boy treatises on algebra.

On a large table were heaps of law-papers and
processes.
Several folios
outspread upon
it;
bound
in vellum were
a lighted candle (though
placed there solely with a view to light cigars)
room
lent its feeble aid to illumine the
while a
mate-cup and inkstand, both of silver, graced

another part of the table. There was neither
carpet nor
mat on the
brick-floor
and the
chairs
were of such ancient fashion, size, and weight,

that
it
required a considerable effort to
move
FRANCIA'S MANNERS
334
them from one spot
They were
to another.
co-
vered with old tanned ox-leather, indented with

curious hieroglyphics, and, from long use, very
Their straight backs were

conspicuously higher than the head of the party
brown and
seated
glossy.
upon them, and
to sit in a reclining pos-
The ground of the

was
scattered over with thousands of
apartment
An
pieces of torn letters, and untorn envelopes.
ture was out of the question.
earthen jar for water and a jug stood upon a coarse
wooden tripod
in
one corner, and the Doctor's
horse-furniture in another.
Slippers, boots,
and
shoes lay scattered about, and the room altogether had an air of confusion, darkness, and ab-
sence of comfort, the more striking that the outside of the cottage,
neat,
and
though lowly was perfectly

>
so romantically placed, as to have all
the air of an abode at once of beauty and of

peace.
Not a trace
of the sanguinary propensities, or of
by the exercise of which

he afterwards attained so bad a celebrity, were
the ungovernable caprice,
recognisable in the manner, or deducible from the

conversation, of Francia, at the time of which I
am now
speaking.
Quite the reverse.
His de-
AND ATTAINMENTS.
335
meanour was subdued and unostentatious;

principles, as far as they could
from his own declarations,

exalted
and
just,
his
be ascertained
though not very
his legal integrity, as an advocate,
had never been disputed.
Vanity seemed to
to be the leading feature of his character;
me
and
though there was a latent sternness and almost

continual severity in his countenance, yet,
relaxed into a smile, they only
when
made, by contrast,
an impression the more winning upon those with

whom he conversed.
He was
understood
pleased
it
should be
French, a very
of knowledge in Paraguay.
known
that he
uncommon branch
He made
some
dis-
play of his acquaintance with Voltaire, Rousseau,
and Volney, and he concurred entirely in the

But he was most of all
theory of the latter.
be known as an algebraist and astronomer. He was, it is true, but a very short way inducted into these sciences. It was sufficient, how-
proud
to
Paraguay, to verify the Spanish proverb,

En tierra de los ciegos, el tuerto es rey"
" in the land of the blind, the
one-eyed man
ever, in
that "
is
king."
In Paraguay, an acquaintance with
French, Euclid's Elements, equations, the
mode
336
of handling a theodolite, or with books prohibited
by the Vatican, was,
in point of knowledge, quite
the exception to the general rule.
Night drew on apace, and

loquacious, as well as
bade adieu
gracious,
fancied, then, either that he
to
host.
my
little
was to figure as he
has since done, or that an intercourse begun
much
with so
civility,
was
to
end with
so
much
injustice.
At
though living in such

was afterwards known, had
this time, Francia,
apparent seclusion,
it
been busy in intrigue against the Government.

He received secret visits from most of the substantial farmers
country
who had
power
and landed proprietors of the
he encouraged the aspirations of men

hitherto never dreamt of
obtaining
he was
all
meekness and condescension
to the lower, all hauteur to the higher classes of

society.
His plan was
to
imbue the country-
people with a feeling that they were misgoverned

by a few ignorant men devoid of merit and to
;
insinuate
how
them
if
he should once
different
it
would be.
come back
He
to
power
represented to
that the object of the revolution
had been
to overthrow the aristocratic pretensions of
Old
337
FRANCIA'S POLITICAL INTRIGUES.
was now apparent that these

pretensions were only superseded by others more
odious, because they were set up by men whom
Spain
they
whereas
it
knew to be no more than
their equals,
of them their inferiors. " Yet was
it
some
not plain," he
would ask, " that they were daily violating the

promises and professions which they had
Who is Don
made ?
Fulgencio Yegros ?" (then president
he would
of the junta),
Gaucho.
What
vallero ?
Nothing.
better
is
And
"
say.
An
ignorant
Don Juan Pedro Cayet both are generals,
vested with supreme authority and insulting you

with the display of an idle parade, which would
be ludicrous
"
if it
What, then
were not contemptible !"

has the necessity ceased for active
operations, which yet these
men have
not the
energy to undertake; or for positive reforms,

which they have neither the skill to conceive, nor
"
the ability to execute ?

In this way did Francia pour the poison of disaffection
and discontent
who
into the ears of his coun-
once admired his patriotism,

respected his integrity, and venerated his wisdom.
trymen,
at
was thus, at the very time of my first unpremeditated visit to him, that he was laying the
It
VOL.
I.
338
ERANCIA'S POLITICAL INTRIGUES.
foundation of that awful power which put into his
hand, at no distant period, the sceptre of iron,

with which he has beaten
down the people of
they have licked the dust under the

Paraguay,
soles of his feet, and in not a few instances, have
till
bathed that dust with their innocent blood.

Yours, &c.
J. P. R.
339
LETTER
XXVIII.
To J
VOYAGE, AGUAS ABAXO, OR

Patronage of Don Gregorio
Voyage
Mode
Payagu
The
it
Preparations for the
Sailing from Assumption
Getting aground The Crew The

Preparations to meet them Enthusiasm of the
of Navigating
Marines
Men
DOWN THE STREAM.
Effects of
Indians
ESQ.
Precautions taken
We escape, and arrive at Santa Fe\

London, 1838.
WAS now not only
initiated into
Paraguay
so-
ciety, but intimate with many, and acquainted

with almost all of its members. Don Gregorio de
la Cerda, the assessor of the
more the
lies,
to
became
government, and yet
numerous private famithe children of which he was godfather,

assessor of the
my
constant friend and companion.
His
principle was (and he was only one of a large

class who entertained the same), that wherever he
had a compadre or a friend, it was his bounden

duty to do him some service. The principle of
Don
Gregorio was too honourable, and he was
Q2
PATRONAGE OF DON GREGORIO.
340
too punctilious, to commit a breach of
it
in
any
case.
" Seiior
Don
Juan," he said to
me
one day,
que de
after the fete of Ytjapua, " es preciso
algun modo
v.
me
bertson, I insist
" Mr. Ro-
permita servirle."
that
it
upon
you put me
in the
way of doing something to serve you."

Now there was no one in Paraguay that could
so well serve
paramount
me
Don
as
there,
and directed
of the government.
"
Sefior Don
Well,
know
He
Gregorio.
was lord
the operations
all
"
Gregorio," I replied,
you
the port of Paraguay
is
now
closed against
the egress of both persons and property.
You
have a great deal of the
latter
locked up in unprofitable stagnation here.
Be-
know,
too, that I
sides, I desire very
to
Buenos Ayres.
mission for
me
much
Now,
to take
property in one of the
to return for a season
you will obtain peraway both my person and

if
many
ships lying
and inactive in the Rivera, you

very essential favour."
and
The
do
empty
me
best of compadres
"
"
Por hecho
friends instantly replied,
" consider the matter settled."
will
"
There
" some difficulties in the

continued,
way.
are,"
he
There
PATRONAGE OP DON GREGORIO.
341
be great jealousy on the part of all the merchants, on account of your being authorized to
will
The Spanish
break the embargo.
marines, you
and making prizes of all
know, are in the river,

vessels which sail
Vattel lays
it
from independent ports ; and
down
as a principle of international
law, that no neutral can be allowed to carry his
unproperty from one belligerent port to another,

less the ship in which it is be under the flag of his
own
nation,
and be manned by
of subjects belonging to
it.
at least one- third
But never mind, we
way of smoothing these difficulties,

mind to
provided you have really made up your
run the risk, which you know is imminent, of
will find a
capture."
"
" That," I
replied,
is entirely
my
affair
and
my mind is quite made up on the subject."

Don Gregorio was one of those active and
gety spirits
ness, give themselves

is
fid-
that, having once undertaken a busi-
accomplished.
no
He
rest,
day or night,
instantly sat
till it
down and
dictated to an amanuensis the petition to the
government, embracing
quest
and of the
fate of
all
the points of
my
re-
which petition he knew
himself to be sole arbiter.
He
explained and
EFFECTS OF DON GREGORIO'S PATRONAGE.
342
nullified, in the
present instance, the objections
he made out a very ingenious case of

hardship for me ; and he called upon the government, as it valued the friendship of Great Britain,
of Vattel
to grant the reasonable request of the only Bri-
There were a
then in Paraguay.
tish subject
number of technical formalities to be gone through,

in the way of taking the opinions and informes
(or dicta) of the various lawyers
office.
The
and men in
cabildo, or court of aldermen, were
to give their informes; the judge of commerce,
and the director of customs were
to give theirs.
The
juez de alzada, or judge of appeal, was to

give his opinion, and the fiscal his. Every one
and learned gentlemen were

Gregorio and the idea of one
of these honourable
compadres of
Don
compadre's opinion being against another's, especially as Don Gregorio was the government assessor,
was not
to
be entertained.
them, therefore, set down exactly
Every one of
what their com-
Within eight days from the time

of presenting my petition, all was granted. Whether things be so managed in this country, I
padre dictated.
cannot
tell;
but favouritism
principle in the heart of
is
so prevailing a
man, as to be almost a
PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE.
synonymous term
this exists, in
der
it
for friendship
343
and wherever
combination with the power to ren-
available, it is rather
envy and disappoint-
ment, than the pretended love of justice and

dealing, that enter their caveats
fair
and objections
to favours so conferred.
"
aguas abaxo,"
Every obstacle to my voyage,
or down the stream, being now removed, I set about
preparations for it with all alacrity; and as a
"
voyage aguas abaxo," especially with an enemy
my
come within the scope of
in the river, does not
any idea we have of ordinary navigation, I shall

give you a short account of my novel and rather
adventurous undertaking.
In the first place, I hired a ship large enough
to carry fifteen
hundred
bales, or serons, of the
The manner
mate, or Paraguay tea.

vessels in
is this
cargo ;
Paraguay
the hold
for a
is
the other half
voyage down the river
filled
is
this purpose, a house* is
of loading
with one-half of the
stowed upon deck.
made
For
of wicker-work, by
tying, with thongs of hide, strong bamboo-canes,
which rest upon upright posts raised about six or

* It
is called
a troxa, or trough.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE.
344
seven feet above the gunwales of the vessel.
The
bales of mate being here deposited, are carefully
covered over with a roof of hides tightly sewed

together,
and forming on
either side a slope like
that of the roof of a house, in order to admit of
the water's running
off.
cord of hide-thong
is
walk on
Round
the whole a strong
run, to prevent those
this elevated roof
who
from falling into the
water.
The commander
of
my
ship was a native of
Old Spain of the name of Borda, and therefore

not considered the best person to be employed
in the conducting of an expedition, of which his
own countrymen were the only enemies to be

But I took him on this very account.
feared.
He had once
been engaged while on a smuggling

expedition, in a rencontre with them ; and having received, as well an indelible wound in the
face, as
earned the reputation of being an inve-
be spared or forgiven, I
knew that in any case of emergency he would
fight with the desperation of a man who had no
hope but in his own prowess. I had a crew of
terate
enemy never
fifteen athletic
to
Paraguayans, under the control
of an old Paraguayan pilot, cunning, sagacious,,
345
PAYAGUA INDIANS.
and
full
But the most conspicuous
of foresight.
and interesting part of my equipment was a beaucanoe of thirty feet long, scooped out of
It was one single
the trunk of the lapacho-tree.
tiful
and
and magnificent hollow piece of timber
when seated upon the water, had all the grace
and lightness of a Cleopatra's barge. In this
;
canoe stood eight Payagua Indians,

erect,
cular,
and uncontrolled
in
mus-
tall,
their
manly
motions, by aught but a girdle round their waists.

They were under the control of a cacique, who
sat at once as steersman
and
pilot;
and as they
simultaneously dipped their paddles, seven feet

Jong, into
the water,
alternately bending
rising at each stroke, they looked like so
and
many
athletes, overcoming every obstacle before them,
and pushing
their skiff with irresistible rapidity
over the waters.
It
was a magnificent sight to
them gliding down the current at the rate of

fifteen miles an hour; and bearing up against
see
it
at the rate of ten.
ible in
faces
Every muscle was discern;
every feature of their
up with the
alacrity of home-felt
powerful operation
was
lit
enjoyment on their own proper element. They

were each armed with a bow, which I could never
Q3
346
PAYAGUA INDIANS.
bend; and rude arrows tipped with
and
iron,
dipped in poison, six feet long. Each man had,

moreover, a long rod and to the end of it was
;
attached a net, in which he deposited his game,
whether
They were noble
fish or fowl.
and more than realized
to
or heard of the freedom
me
all
fellows,
had ever read
and grace of
action,
and
of the muscular powers of the swarthy Indian.
What
most admired was
their complete subor-
dination to their chief or cacique.
seated under a
canoe.
He
little
ala
"
!
awning
scarcely ever spoke.
were
were
His look
the vociferation of " ha
motion of his hand

ala
He and
in the stern of the
sufficient to
the
!
ha
procure an instant
compliance with the most secret desires of his heart.
Did
a dorado or large gold-fish come in sight
the pilot was the

to the crew
fly
and
first
in
an instant an arrow was
attached by a cord to the shooter's hand.
this cord the golden prize
canoe.
to announce its approach

let
By
was drawn into the
In the same way, when we landed, every
beast of the forest, and every bird of the
wood
aim became the prey of those

dexterous bowmen. Often have I seen a pheaat which they took
sant perched
among
the thick boughs of a tree
THE SAILING FROM ASSUMPTION.
347
struck to the heart by one of their arrows
and
often was the javalie, or wild boar of the woods,

laid prostrate
by
their unerring aim.
I have
have been rowed by

the crack crews of the cutters of a man of war
sailed in
English barges
but never did I see such a crew as that of Payaguas, and their cacique, by which I now was
paddled in
my
splendid canoe
down the
placid
waters of the Paraguay.
My
object in taking this canoe
was to proceed
a-head of the vessel, and, looking out for the
enemy, to bring back word
if
we discovered him,
in order that the necessary preparations might
be made to
fight, or the
taken to avoid him.
necessary precautions
The moorings
of the ship
were at length loosed from Assumption, and she
Her gunglided gallantly down the stream.

wales were nearly in it ; but the great troxa, or
house upon the deck, made her look like the ark
upon the waters. The tall Paraguayans
walked to and fro upon the roof of it. Two of
floating
them on each
side,
with canes twenty feet long,
kept sounding the depths of the river, as the

vessel
ano or
made rapid way upon

pilot, all
it,
while the vaque-
caution and attention, scanned
MODE OF NAVIGATING.
348
with his keen and practical eye that part of the

current in which to sail, or the indications of
some
shifting sand-bank to
my Payagua
and
canoe, shot
like
be avoided.
Indians, in our
lightning a-head of the bark, and winding round

one of the beautiful headlands of the river, were
Every nook was explored,

every cottage on the banks of the river was called
soon out of sight.
at in order to look for the marinos
We
vour to get news of them.
bucu; and
me
all
friend the
my
was so
far safe.
passed Corrientes.
Still
*,
or endea-
reached Neem-
Comandante assured
On
the fourth day
we heard of nothing
we
to
Generally speaking, the

impede our voyage.
miles
a-head of the ship, and
canoe was twenty
every afternoon
of " All's well."
we returned
Never was
to her with the
my
news
admiration more
excited than on beholding the indefatigable ex*
The
marinos, thus shortly called by the South Americans,

who navigated the ships and vessels of Spain in
were the sailors
By their predatory excursions, and landings on

the most uninhabited parts of the Paran&, they had excited great
alarm among the few and isolated peasants and inhabitants of the
small villages on its banks.
They had also made prizes of many
the river Plate.
of the river craft, and had, on one occasion, proceeded so far as to
bombard the town of Buenos Ayres. They were,

which I now write, complete masters of the river.
at the period of
349
GETTING AGROUND.
ertions, as well of the
Payagua Indians,
as of the
They toiled morning and

'Paraguay sailors.
under
a
evening,
nearly vertical sun, with uncon-
One
querable assiduity and perseverance.
even-
ing as I was paddled up the stream to meet the

vessel, after our out-look for the day, I was sur-
and a
prised,
alarmed, not to find her at
little
the expected spot.
"
Oh," said my Payagua Palibad Spanish, of which he spoke

a word, " no nada no nada barradura
nurus, in very
scarcely
no mas yo
;
upon
se lugar
ala
Here-
ala !"
his Indian subjects so plied their paddles,
bade defiance to the current;
that the canoe
and
ha ha
!
trees, islands, promontories,
us, as every ten
vanished behind
minutes we opened up to view
some new and beautiful scenery.

a good deal of explanation given by the
Payagua cacique, in a garbled jargon of Spanish
By
and Guarani,
I understood that our vessel
have got aground, and that he knew where.

hour's rowing
had been
must
One
more convinced me how unerring
his calculations
for
on rounding a
headland, we perceived our polacca
fast
upon a
bank, and the sailors busy rowing to and fro
350
SHIFTING SAND-BANKS.
between her and an adjacent island, on which

they were landing the troxa part of the cargo.
Hereupon the whole of my eight Payaguas

shouted forth a wild and discordant
doubled their exertions
hour we were
all
had been now so

off the
yell
re-
and in a quarter of an
She
ship.
on board of the
be swinging
more than a couple
far lightened, as to
bank ; and
in little
of hours, she was free of
it,
with the whole cargo
of her house replaced, and tied to a couple of

trees for the night.
These barraduras, or striking on sand-banks

as you sail down the Parana", are frequent, even
under the most skilful pilotage
because the
;
banks are continually shifting with the periodical floodings of the river.
But the sand is so
soft,
the vessels are so strong, and the facility
of lightening
them by removal
to
an island or to
the banks of the river, of the deck part of the

cargo,
is
that of a
of them.
sions,
so great, that
little
The
no inconvenience, beyond
delay, ever occurs in consequence
exertions required on such occa-
however, from the men, are immense.
know not
in the present case whether the efforts
THE CREW.
351
of the crew of the ship, or of the Payaguas of

the canoe were greatest
now
yet here were they
all
seated in contentment and hilarity around
a blazing
fire
which they had kindled on the
banks of the river; they were eating, without

even salt to it, charque, or strips of beef dried in
water was their beverage the ground
and was to be their bed ; the sky
was their canopy ; and the exertions of the morthe sun
was
their seat,
row were to be greater, perhaps, than those of

to-day. Yet the Payaguas were laughing the
:
Paraguayans were singing and playing the guitar

and ever and anon, some joke went round,
;
or
some story was
whole
told, that elicited
from the
party unqualified applause, or not less
Now, thought
ridicule.
unqualified
I,
as in
musing contemplation of the group, I stood upon

what scope is here
the exercise of sober-minded and impartial
the roof of
for
my
philosophy!
floating house,
Here
untutored listeners
is
;
naked Payagua: here

from the uninstructed
wit,
appreciated by the
dulness detected by the

is
music, breaking forth
voice,
and from under the
untaught fingers of the inhabitant of the torrid

zone: laughter and merriment here hold their
THE CREW.
352
gambols labour has doffed her habiliments of

toil, and clothed herself in the garments of ease
;
and relaxation
herself stands
and
the fare
handmaid
is
hard, but hunger
to
make
it
savoury
in lieu of the juice of the grape, the simple
partakers of the repast are content to moisten

it
with the waters of the Parana.
comes on, each
man
the embers of the
lays himself
fire,
Here, as night
down around
with leaves for his bed,
for a covering his
poncho; sleep, unbidden, folds

arms ; labour and sobriety keep aloof
him
in her
the
phantom of night-mare, and the dream of

and the dawn of day finds him at once
horror
refreshed,
and ready with renewed
alacrity, for
renewed exertion.
Whether
there be not here as goodly a portion
of happiness as we have any right to expect, or

chance of realizing, on this side of the grave or
whether our happiness be rendered more com;
plete
by
all
the pomp, pride, and circumstance
of civilized society, I leave
it
to deeper thinkers
and those fonder of controversy than myself,
to
decide.
Onward we moved
the next day, the vessel
sweeping down the stream, and the eight sturdy
353
THE MAKINGS.
Payaguas, under their cacique, with myself in

the canoe, shooting a-head of her, like an arrow
Not a word did we hear
from a bow.
marines,
till,
on the 9th day
of the
after our leaving
Assumption, as the canoe approached the Baxada,

the quick eye of the cacique descried two vessels
at anchor in the
midst of the stream.
In an
upon a war-whoop call to his Indian

they crouched down in the canoe, and with
instant,
crew,
their heads scarcely above her sides, turned the
prow against the stream, and paddled up the

river
in breathless silence.
They kept
close
under the precipitous barranca, or cliff, that they

might not be observed; and the Vaqueano cacique began forthwith to explain to me, that he
had seen two Spanish marine
vessels at anchor
in the middle of the river, directly between the
Baxada and Santa
Fe.
knew they were marinos

" I
was,
know,
asked him how he
and
all
he could answer
I see guns."
was sure he must be right

for had they not been enemy's vessels,
they
would have been in the port of the Baxada itself,
Upon
and not
reflection I
at anchor in the stream.
The moment we were
out of sight, up rose the
354
PREPARATIONS TO MEET THEM.
Payaguas
to their natural height
said the Vaqueano, " what are
"
;
we
And
to do ?"
now,"
My
mind had been made up from the beginning,

what, under such a contingency, we were to do
:
it
was either to
to elude him.
fight the
enemy, or, by stratagem,

I ordered the cacique to make all
possible haste back to the ship

rapidity were
of hours
we
my
orders
fulfilled,
and with such
that in a couple
descried her, with all sail set, coming
at the rate of ten miles an hour,
We instantly hoisted
her to stop,
down the
stream.
the signal agreed upon for
when she immediately hauled her
wind, stood across the river, and in ten minutes
was among the brush-wood and rushes of the

great chaco.
canoe.
We
soon reached the spot in the
I ordered all the
men
to
come upon the
roof of the house, and I thus addressed Borda,
the vaqueano (or pilot), and his Paraguayan

"
crew
My friends, we are within four hours'
:
sail
of two Spanish vessels of war, which will
assuredly intercept us in our attempt to reach
Santa Fe.
Now,
necessity, to fight
are you prepared in case of

them ? or will you discharge
your cargo, and return with ignominy and loss

to Paraguay?
Will you, Borda, whom your
ENTHUSIASM OF THE MEN.
355
countrymen have so maltreated, lose an opportunity of revenging yourself?
Paraguayans, who have
And
will
you,
declared your independ-
ence of a power you despise, shun conflict with

it,
when the moment
for action arrives
Will
your relations and friends,

that those marinos, whom you have ever held in
you go back and
tell
derision, so frightened you, that the
moment you
discovered the masts of their ships, you sought
How
refuge in flight
believe you, and
if
will
your countrymen
where
will you afterthey do,
wards hide your heads ?"
With one accord, commander, pilot and men,
shouted aloud that they would fight, and do

whatever I commanded them. Secure thus, of
the
Paraguay crew, I next addressed myself,

through an interpreter, to the Payagua cacique
and
"
his
men
the gallant crew of
Payaguas," said
I,
"
my
little skiff.
you are the descendants
of a noble race, which the Spaniards have sought

to exterminate.
to
show of what
Here
stuff
an opportunity for you

you are made. Will you
is
join heart and hand with your brothers of Para-
guay, and myself, and let us go

invaders of your
soil,
down upon those

and challenge them to
356
PRECAUTIONS TAKEN.
answer at once
for past injuries
and present
arro-
"
will
gance ?"
"
we
We
we will," replied the cacique,

" of a
will,"
certainty we will ;" and
Cataitig
was at no
loss to find,
from the warlike and
daring attitudes and gesticulations of his crew,

that they were knit together in purpose, as one
man.
I never forgot, all this while, that
my
enter-
prize was one, not of warfare, but of peace
and
while I stood prepared for the predicament of
evade
being obliged to
fight,
I yet
a contingency so
little
in accordance with the
object of
Of
my
this,
hoped
to
voyage.
however, I said nothing to
being convinced that
my
my
men,
best plan was to screw
an anticipation of the worst

To work, accordingly, went
that could happen.
their courage
hands.
up
Some
to
furbished
up the old muskets,

and others whetted the rusty pikes and cutlasses.
all
Our
cartridges were laid out in order in a large
box ; and the Payaguas put all their bows and

arrows in order. A dozen hides were forthwith
soaked, and cut
the crew to
up into strips, so as to enable

make a sort of boarding-netting,
which to the height of
five
feet,
was strongly
357
PRECAUTIONS TAKEN.
fixed to a vast
number of
this purpose, out of the
thick boughs, cut, for
wood.
When
this net-
the men ranged on

ting was drawn up, and
either
there the brave
side of the hide roof of our ship,
Paraguayans with their halberds, swords, and

muskets, and here the gigantic Payaguds, with
Borda looking
their bows, arrows, and spears
more
fierce
from the slash he had had in the face
from his countrymen, and the two
pilots inces-
santly animating their respective crews,
I felt
that sort of anticipation of success, which ani-
mates the
spirit to enterprize,
the execution.
and cheers
The new moon
laid
it
in
her feeble
upon the waters. Orders were given to

weigh and to the men to be as still as the night.
light
Down we
much
glided towards the enemy, keeping as
as possible in-shore,
of the river.
The upper
on the Santa Fe side

sails
were
all
clewed
down, and not a hush was to be heard on board.

After sailing for about four hours, the sound
"
of the enemy's " eight bells
(that is twelve
came undulating upon the waters and

ten minutes more, we saw the two vessels
o'clock)
in
looming in the distance.

Orders were given to
all
the
men
to lie
down
WE
358
ESCAPE.
on the roof of the troxa, and to the

the vessel close in
by the trees.
pilot to
We
keep
were now
within a quarter of a mile of the marines ; and

the next five minutes were to determine our fate.
Everything was prepared to

precaution taken to avoid it.
We
did avoid
it
resist attack
every
the marines were asleep
while we, by adopting the precaution, prudent,
be taken on the voyage of life, or on

that of the great waters, of keeping a good looksailed quietly and safely past them,
out a-head,
whether
it
Ere the morning

dawned, we had attained that port of safety.
All were surprised at our escape, and all con-
into the riacho of Santa Fe.
gratulated
me upon
it.
Candioti said jocosely
he should propose me as commandant of the

naval force, which consisted of a gun-boat, that
the inhabitants did not quite like to risk in an
engagement with the enemy.

night, however, the
enemy
In about a
retired, to join a con-
siderable fleet of vessels which

they
down the
All
river, in front of
my men
each with
wended
fort-
had lower
the town of Kosario.
were rewarded with double wages
an
their
individual
present;
and they
way back to Paraguay in the canoes,
ARRIVAL AT SANTA
of which I
made them a
359
FE.
free donation.
A little
fortune was made by the Paraguay tea, for which

and I
I had to thank my friend Don Gregorio
;
set off
on horseback
for
Buenos Ayres, which
reached on the fourteenth day from that of our
Assumption. The voyage from that

port to Santa Fe, not counting stoppages and
detensions unconnected with the navigation, had
having
left
been made in nine days ; while from Santa Fe to

Assumption the voyage is one of two months.
Thus
far for the difference
the current, and against
between sailing with
it.
Yours, &c.
J. P.
END OF VOL.
I.
R.
LONDON:
Printed
by WILLIAM CLOWES and SONS,

Stamford- Street.
BINDING LIST SEP 15
1945
University of Toronto
Library
DO NOT
REMOVE
THE
CARD
FROM
THIS
POCKET
Acme Library Card
Pocket
LOWE-MARTIN GO. LIMITED

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Cartas en Paraguay Durante El Gobierno Del Dr. Francia Por J.P. y W.P. Robertson Volumen I

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LETTERS ON PARAGUAY,

AN ACCOUNT OF A FOUR YEARS' RESIDENCE IN

UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF

THE DICTATOR FRANCIA.

WILLIAM CLOWES and SONS,

DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH AND QUEENSBERRY,

THESE VOLUMES ARE, WITH HIS PERMISSION,

BY HIS GRACE'S MOST OBEDIENT AND OBLIGED

preface of a book, although

happens, however, in the present case, that

the preface has not only been the part of our

written, but that the greater portion

has contrived to creep into the concluding

pages of the second volume.

must accordingly beg of our readers that

some portion of that

read as part of our preface.

series as " Introductory."

they have given to this slight work.

our ability were commensurate with our desire

patronage has not been mis-

KING of the BELGIANS. 3 copies.

His Grace the

DUKE of NORTHUMBERLAND, K.G.

His Grace the

The Most Noble

Right Honourable EARL of ARRAN. 3 copies.

The BARON SENFTENBERG,

Abernethy, Colonel Sir Thomas, K.H., Devonshire.

Anderson, John, Esq., Glasgow.

Esq., Essex-street, Strand.

Ashley, Messrs., Liverpool.

Banner, Harmood, Esq., Liverpool.

Bartholomew, Robert, Esq., Glasgow.

Barton, James, Esq., Buenos Ayres.

Bates, William, Esq., Liverpool.

Beaufort, Captain, R.N., Gloucester-place, Portmansquare.

Beckwith, John, Esq., Liverpool.

J., Esq., New-street,

Esq., Park-place, St. James's.

Black, J., Esq., Blyths wood-square, Glasgow.

Blanshard, H., Esq., Great Ormond-street, Bloomsbury.

Bold, Thomas, Esq., Liverpool.

Boothby, H., Esq.,

Bowles, Captain W., R.N.,

Bragg, John, Esq., Throgmorton-street.

Brown, George, Esq., Regent-street.

Buchanan, James, Esq., Edinburgh. 2 copies.

J. R., Esq., Russell-square.

Campbell, W., Esq., Candleriggs, Glasgow.

William, Esq., Fairview, Liverpool.

Clarke, Matthew, Esq., Walthamstow.

Thomas, Esq., Manchester.

Clephane, Miss Maclean, Castle Ashby.

Cogan, Hugh, Esq., Glasgow.

Esq., St. Vincent-street, Glasgow.

Corrie, Edgar, Esq., Bedford-square.

Thomas, Esq., Liverpool.

D'AImaine, Thomas, Esq., Brompton-crescent.

Darling, Peter, Esq., Sydenham, Roxburghshire.

Darnley, James, Esq., Glasgow.

Dent, T., Esq., Hyde-park-terrace.

Des Brosses, Frederick,

Esq., Buenos Ayres.

Dezvete, Samuel, Esq., Gower-street.

Edward, Esq., M.P., Chapel-street, Grosvenor-